Gone
by jerichosbabe
Summary: Chris Jericho and Stephanie McMahon are in for another one of those days... *Sequel to both Drop to Zero and Someday*
1. 9:00 to 10:00AM

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people in this story, as usual.**

**A/N: I'm not really sure if anyone is still interested in this "trilogy" but I figured that someone might be curious enough to read it. If you are new to this, then I suggest that you read both _Drop to Zero_ and _Someday_, since they both occur before this story. Hopefully to those who are still following (if there are any), it won't disappoint, and to those who are new, it will be something interesting enough to pass the time!**

**A/N2: The italicized part at the beginning of this chapter is the same as the Epilogue that was added to _Someday_. It's a little memory refresher for everyone. Enjoy!**

_Chris was sitting in the hard, plastic chair that was situated next to Stephanie's bed, watching in awe as she held their infant son, Ash Edward Irvine, in her arms. Chris watched on with concern, since his wife had technically died not any more than an hour ago. He smiled at her though, since he couldn't help it. Every time that he looked at her with his son…it was just a beautiful moment for him. He finally felt as if his life was coming together._

"He looks almost exactly like you." Stephanie said quietly. Chris smirked and leaned closer to her.

_"What are you talking about? I don't look like that." He said sarcastically. She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. Chris chuckled right as Batista and Shawn re-entered the room. Chris turned to them._

_"How is Jay?" he asked, the ever-familiar worry line starting to crease through his forehead._

_"He's okay." Batista said, walking over to one of the other chairs and sitting down, Shawn leaned back against the wall. "Pretty banged up, but he's okay."_

_"Did you tell him?" Chris asked. Batista nodded._

_"Shawn explained it," he said. Chris glanced at Shawn and nodded. Shawn was another thing that concerned him. When he finally went home, he was going to be greeted with an empty house filled with toys and tons of Cameron's things…not to mention he still had to plan the funeral…Chris knew that it was going to be extremely hard for him, especially since the birth of Ash. He was going to have his own responsibilities, and not always be able to be there for him when he needed him._

_"I'm just glad that Hunter is finally dead. No one else will have to suffer from him. That's what I was aiming for." Batista said._

_"That's what you got, and I am extremely thankful for your help." Chris said. "We both are." He added, looking over at Stephanie. At that moment, the door cracked open a little, and a limping Jack Bauer hobbled into the room, dressed in a horrible hospital gown. He was walking with his IV in his hand. He turned and looked at the group._

_"What? You didn't invite me to the party?" he asked, smiling. The rest of the group chuckled. _

_"Are you alright?" Stephanie asked from the bed. Jack smiled at her and shrugged off her concern._

_"I'm fine, just trying to hide from the crazy nurses in this place. I thought that being a security guard was bad…" he trailed off. He walked over to Stephanie. "So that is your son, huh?" he asked, looking at Chris. Chris beamed with pride again._

_"Yup, that's him. Ash, say hi to Jack." He said. Jack smirked down at the child, clutching his stomach._

_"He's cute." He said. Just then the nurse walked into the room._

_"Mr. Bauer, you are not supposed to be out of your bed!" she hissed at him. Jack looked at Chris and rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be resting!"_

_"I am perfectly fine." Jack said, "I was just catching up with a few friends…"_

_"You can catch up later, right now you need to rest!" The nurse yelled at him. Jack held up his hands in surrender._

_"Fine, fine, I'm coming." He said._

_"Be careful Jack." Chris said. Jack nodded._

_"Careful is my middle name." He said, and suddenly winced because he had moved too fast. Chris smirked at him._

_"Right." He said, as Jack was dragged from the room. After that, Batista stood._

_"I need to be going, it's late and I would like some sleep." He said. Chris nodded._

_"I know how you feel. Hopefully I'll get there soon." He said, shaking Batista's hand gingerly, making sure to be gentle with his hand. Batista smiled. "Keep in touch, man." Chris said._

_"I will." He said, and exited the room. Chris leaned back in his chair._

_"And then there were three…" Chris said. Stephanie was staring at Shawn._

_"Shawn…" she said quietly, seeing the look on his face._

_"I'm fine." He said automatically looking at her, clearly aware of the tears that were streaming down his face._

_"You're not fine." She insisted. "You watched your son-"_

_"That's not important right now." Shawn said, cutting her off. There's nothing we can do about that. I just want to make sure that you're alright." He said. _

_"Me?" she asked incredulously. "I'm fine." She said. "Thanks to you, Dave, Jack, and Chris, I am perfectly fine." Shawn nodded._

_"I'm glad." He said. An awkward silence fell over the room at that point. "I'm going to go and get a snack or something so you guys can talk." He said._

_"See you soon, Shawn." Chris said as Shawn headed out the door. Chris shook his head and turned to Stephanie. "Alone at last." He said._

_"I'm really concerned about him." Stephanie said. Chris sighed._

_"I know. I'm concerned about him too, but he'll be okay. We'll both be there for him and he'll get out of the slump that he's in." Chris said. He leaned back and closed his eyes._

_"Day's catching up, isn't it?" she asked him. Chris nodded._

_"Like you wouldn't believe." He said. "You know what we should do?" he asked suddenly._

_"What?" Stephanie asked him. Chris smiled without opening his eyes._

_"We should finally go on our vacation to the Caribbean like we always talked about." Chris said. Stephanie sighed. _

_"That sounds nice." She said. Chris re-opened his eyes and looked at her._

_"I love you." He said. She smiled._

_"I love you, too." She said. Chris stared at her, studying her face and her hair, just the way she was sitting and holding their son…_

_He couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness that he had as he stared at his wife._

_He couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going to happen to them._

_Something so big…_

_He blocked it out of his mind, and smiled at Stephanie._

_He was just becoming paranoid about everything from the events of the day again._

_Wasn't he?_

**9:00 **He had never really been sure when his life had fallen apart.

All he knew was that it had definitely happened. And it had happened without him being able to stop it. His whole world had come crashing down around him so quickly that he had lost his footing, and now he was here, in this dump, wasting his life and money away on booze that took away the pain that her memory brought him.

He took another swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels that rested on his coffee table.

Since he had thrown their mattress out into the yard and burned it, along with every sheet set that they had owned, he no longer had a bed to sleep in, and therefore resided on the couch. He wished that he could've seen the look on her face through that tinted vehicle window. That might've made him feel a little better.

**9:16 **He took another swig from the bottle.

But then again, who was he kidding? By pulling that little stunt and not being able to pull his voice down to a normal volume when speaking to her, he had royally screwed himself. She had taken away the only thing that he had been living for. She had taken him with her. Their son.

He took another swig from the bottle.

He knew that he should have seen it coming, hell he had almost _asked_ for it by letting them spend time together. He pressed his palm to his eyes and sat back against the couch. He wished that he could bore out the image that had been burned there, behind his eyes. The image of them together…together in bed.

**9:32 **He took another swig from the bottle.

In a way, he almost wished that he could have seen himself in that moment…when he had stumbled in on them…He only remembered how he felt. Shock first…and then…anger, boiling anger that just completely blurred his vision. He honestly couldn't remember what he had said or done after that, but based on the fact of where he was sitting right now, he was sure that it hadn't been good.

He took another swig from the bottle.

Absently, he ran a hand over his unshaven face. What would she say if she saw him now? Would she apologize to him? Admit that she had made a stupid mistake? Ask him to take her back? After all, he had been the one to file for the divorce. He had done it in almost a numb state, the same state that he was in right now. He hadn't really known _what_ to do, only knowing that every time that he would see her, he would see _them_. So he had taken himself out of her life, and she had taken their son out of his.

**9:48 **He took another swig from the bottle.

The liquid burned as it tore through the back of his throat. He closed his eyes and thought about everything that he once had…and everything that he had lost. He clenched his hand and looked down at the scars that were still there from that day. He had managed to be happy after that, although he had never been sure how. Now, happiness seemed to be only a figment of his imagination.

He took another swig from the bottle.

He grabbed the picture frame that he had stuffed down in between the cushions of the couch, and moved it into his lap. It was the only picture that he had of him…of Ash. He was only about two in the picture, but it was Ash all the same. He felt the tears coming to his eyes again as he ran a hand over the broken glass that littered the frame. He wished that he could hold his son, just one more time…Just for a moment.

He put the bottle back on the coffee table.

What would he say if he saw what his father had become…had wasted away to? Would he cower away in fear? Or would he simply smile his boyish smile and accept it? He knew that she would kill him if she knew that he had been spending his afternoons watching him play outside the daycare center that he went to. Of course he wouldn't be able to do _that_ anymore, seeing as he was starting the "big boy" school today. He was jumping into the pond of kindergarten fish now, farther away from him.

He grabbed the bottle and was about to finish it off, when he thought better of it.

Instead, he tossed it with as much strength as he could muster and watched with satisfaction as it shattered against the wall.

Chris Irvine looked down again at the picture of his son, and put his head in his hands.

**9:59 **"Damn you, Stephanie." He muttered. "Damn you to hell."

**10:00**

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**Let me know!**


	2. 10:00 to 11:00AM

**10:00 – 11:00AM**

**10:00 **Stephanie McMahon looked up from the immense pile of papers on her desk.

"Yes?" She asked the man who was ominously standing over her.

"You know, I always find it amusing to talk to you when we're at work." He said. She removed her reading glasses and rested her hands on the desk.

"Oh? And why's that?" she asked.

"Because you always treat me like some random coworker instead of your devilishly handsome fiancée." Shawn Hickenbottom said to her as he plopped down in the chair sitting across from her. She smirked.

"Well, it _has_ only been there about a day, you know." She commented. "It's going to take a while to get used to a different ring being there." Shawn nodded.

"Oh I know." He said, before leaning over the desk to kiss her on the forehead. "Just take as much time as you need," he whispered to her before sitting back down.

"So, what exactly did you want?" Stephanie asked. "Or did you just come in here to make sure that the ring was still on my finger."

"Oh, I actually had an ulterior motive for walking in here." He said, handing her a piece of paper. "The RAW schedule for tonight needs to be finalized." She put her glasses back on and took the paper from him, glancing at it for a few seconds, and then handed it back to him.

"It looks fine. We can always tweak it during the show, if we need to." She said, and Shawn stood up.

"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that. I'll tell creative the same thing I did last time." He said.

"What's that?" Stephanie asked. Shawn just smiled.

"'It's finalized until Stephanie changes her mind.'" He said. She shook her head at him.

"Get out of here." She laughed. He smiled and closed her office door once again.

**10:24 **Absently, Stephanie thought about her son and how he would be faring in kindergarten today. She briefly fought back the urge to call the school and check up on him. Ash had become more and more independent every day. And she thought it before she could stop herself.

_He was just like his father._

Stephanie removed her glasses again when she thought of the man she had been married to for close to seven years when they divorced. It had only been six months prior to today that the divorce had been made final. She hadn't seen him in that amount of time.

She constantly thought about him, though. She had to. Every time she saw their son, the resemblance between the two was simply breathtaking. She hated herself for what she had done, and yet, on the same side of the coin, she hated him for putting her in that position.

After their last day from hell, Stephanie had been left to herself most of the time, since someone needed to be at WWE to help run things, and since she had just had a baby, it had to be Chris. Chris ran all major decisions for the company for the better part of a year before they had found someone to babysit and could divide the jobs more evenly between the two of them.

In that amount of time, Shawn had moved to Connecticut to be closer to Chris and Stephanie, since staying at his house in Texas would have simply brought back too many memories to stay sane in. The three of them were inseparable, and spent lots of time together – each trying to forget their own part of the horrible day.

But about two years ago, Chris went back on the road. He started wrestling again, and picked up a few new gigs with Fozzy, and before she knew it, Stephanie found herself at home with a toddler and no one else around.

Except for Shawn.

She had never really been sure when their relationship became more of a "romantic" one instead of a platonic one, but it had nonetheless. Chris came home a day earlier than expected. Stephanie would never forget the look on his face.

The only news she ever really heard of Chris was through Jay, and sometimes Dave. She would ask how he was doing and would be told that he was doing fine. He was never anything more than "fine."

**10:42** Stephanie shook her head and tried to concentrate on her work. She debated calling Chris, to see how he was _really_ doing, but then decided against it. She hadn't called him in the six months prior to today since they had been divorced, so why should she start now? She stared at the ring on her left hand once again and wondered if the empty feeling in her heart could ever be filled by someone other than Chris Irvine.

**10:53 **Randy Orton massaged his wrists as he walked down the court house steps. He quickly glanced around on the street before climbing into the car that was parked directly in front of him on the curb.

"Is everything in place?" he asked the driver. The driver nodded.

"It's all ready to go when you give the order." He said. Randy nodded and smiled.

"Six years in prison for a crime I didn't even commit. Those bastards are going down." Randy said, resting his head against the back of the seat.

"I know, Randy. I know. We'll get them for everything they've done." Randy turned to him.

"Give the order."

**10:57** Shawn was lightly humming to himself as he walked down the stairs to the parking garage. Stephanie had decided to eat in the office again, and he was determined to surprise her with a little something extra. He took no notice of the black SUV that was driving out of the parking garage, or of the man sitting inside of it. What he did take notice of, however, was the sound of a faint beeping noise.

**10:59** "What the hell is that…" Shawn's thought trailed off into thin air when he saw something planted near one of the support beams in the garage. "Oh shit." He muttered and took off for the outdoors.

He heard the explosion behind him and felt himself being lifted up into the air, and slammed down on the sidewalk outside.

**11:00**


	3. 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

**Thanks to anyone and everyone who is still reading this story! I appreciate the reviews, and I hope that the chapters to come were worth waiting my two year absence!**

**11:00AM-12:00PM**

**11:00 **Shawn groaned as he rolled over on the sidewalk to try and pick himself up. He was surrounded by dust and debris, and he thought that he could faintly hear car alarms. He knew that he had been very close to the explosion and blamed his lack of hearing on that. He struggled and tried to stand up and face the building when the reality of the situation finally hit him.

The WWE building had just been bombed.

Stephanie was still inside.

Immediately, Shawn felt two pairs of hands lift him up and start carrying him down the street, away from the building and the hundreds of people who came running out of it.

"Who are you?" he asked hoarsely, before one of the people carrying him managed to gag him with something that smelled sweet. Shawn thought that they carried him about a block before he felt himself starting to teeter on the brink of consciousness. He felt himself being shoved roughly into a vehicle and his hands being bound. Through his fuzzy vision, Shawn tried to see their faces, but could only make out black masses before he finally passed out.

**11:08** Chris raised his head from the sink, his face dripping wet as he groped for the towel he had set on the end of the counter. He buried his face in the towel for a moment and then studied his eyes in the mirror. They were bloodshot. His boss had given him a week of vacation to try and pull himself together and he had spent most of that week throwing himself a pity party, getting wasted and passing out in his apartment. The only sleep he ever managed to get these days were the kind that only strong amounts of alcohol seemed to induce. He ran a hand over his unshaven face, pondering to himself when exactly he had fallen off the deep end and never bothered to try climbing back up.

Absently, Chris heard his cell phone ring from the living room. He sighed and debated answering it, before finally giving in and retrieving it from the coffee table.

"Yeah?" he asked. Jay Reso's voice greeted him from the other end of the phone.

"Chris? Are you at home?" Jay asked him. Chris sighed.

"Yes, I'm home. What do –"

"Turn your TV on channel five." Jay interrupted him. Chris wrinkled his brow and turned the TV on.

"-sure how many people are still inside the building, or even how much longer the building will remain standing, Karen. Right now, there are evacuations of the WWE building as well as all major buildings surrounding it in progress. Not much else is known-" Chris pushed the mute button on the remote and watched the images on the screen flash before him.

"When did this happen?" he asked Jay.

"About 10 minutes ago." He said. "The bottom level of the building just exploded, and they think that most people will still be able to get out, since the explosion wasn't strong enough to completely level the place. They're expecting it to collapse within the hour though, since one of the support beams was hit."

Chris felt himself collapse onto the couch.

"Have you heard any-anything a-about…" Chris trailed off.

"She hasn't called any of us yet. Shawn either, for that matter." Jay said, before thinking about it. Chris felt a rush of anger surge through him and closed his eyes.

"Where's Ash?" he asked Jay.

"He was at school the last time I heard." Chris nodded. There was a brief pause between the two of them.

"Chris, I need to tell you something." Jay finally confessed. "I've been trying to make sense of it for the past few days, and now I really wish I would have said something about it before."

"What's that?" Chris asked him.

"I knew this was going to happen." Jay said.

"What?" Chris stammered.

"Well, not this exactly, but I knew that something was going to happen." He said. Chris sat in silence for a minute.

"How?"

"I got a phone call a couple of days ago. Sounded like some kind of automated thing telling me that the evil wrestling corporation was going to be brought to its knees." Jay said. "I thought that it was another one of those activist people we get calling us every once in a while, so I kind of blew it off, but now…Now I think that this person may have been telling the truth."

Something about the whole scenario struck Chris as odd and strangely familiar. He thought about it briefly for a second, and then figured that it would come to him later.

"Have you talked to Dave yet today?" Chris asked him.

"No, not yet. Why? Do you think this has something to do with him?" Jay asked.

"Not necessarily, but I want you to call and check up on him. I'll be over in a few minutes." Chris said.

"What are you thinking?" Jay asked him.

"I'm not sure yet."

**11:32** "Ms. McMahon? Ms. McMahon, can you hear me?" A female voice was asking. Stephanie slowly opened her eyes, and immediately squeezed them shut at the intensity of the light.

"Can you hear me, Ms. McMahon?" the voice asked again. Stephanie nodded her head. "Can you open your eyes for me?" Stephanie tried once again to open her eyes, and managed to succeed this time, the light not seeming nearly as bright this time. She looked around for a moment, trying to figure out where she was or what had happened.

"You're in Waaco Hospital, Ms. McMahon. It's about a mile and a half from the WWE building you own. You were found lying inside a stairwell after the explosion. Do you remember anything that happened before this?"

Stephanie took a moment to think about it. Stairwell, explosion, WWE…She remembered Shawn being in her office asking her if she wanted to go to lunch with him, and she had told him that she was planning on eating something from the vending machine after while. Then, she remembered changing her mind and trying to catch him on the elevator, but then suddenly deciding to take the stairs. She had been almost all the way to the ground floor, when suddenly everything shook violently and she fell.

She simply nodded to the nurse again.

"Can you tell me anything about yourself?" the nurse asked her. Stephanie rattled off her name, address, and a few brief facts about her life, before the nurse allowed her to sit up.

"We've done a thorough examination, and you seem to be completely fine, apart from a few cuts and bruises. You're probably going to have a headache for a few days, but otherwise, you are completely fine. You just need to rest and take it easy." The nurse informed her. "You'll be released shortly. In the meantime, is there anything you would like for me to do?"

"Did all of the injured people from the building come here?" Stephanie asked her. The nurse nodded.

"Most of them did. A few may have been sent to other hospitals, based on injuries. Is there someone you want me to try and find for you?" Stephanie nodded.

"Yes, he's…a friend of mine. His name is Shawn Hickenbottom." Stephanie said. The nurse nodded, jotting the name down.

"I'll check it out when I can; we're going to be backed up for a while here, so if you leave your cell number with me, I can call you when we find him."

"Sounds fine." Stephanie said.

**11:47** Ash Irvine shuffled down the long hallway to the office. His teacher was holding his hand and walking with him, obviously in no hurry to get there either. Ash didn't quite understand why he was going to see the prince-ipal, or really what this guy was for, but he figured that he had obviously done something wrong.

A few moments later, he was sitting in the office, swinging his legs back and forth under the chair that was much too high for him to be sitting in. The secretary there occasionally shot him a glance, and when their eyes met, she would smile at him, trying to comfort him.

When the other door in the room opened, the "prince-ipal" and another man walked out. The other man stretched out a hand to Ash.

"C'mon bud, time to go." He said, holding his hand out, and on any other day, Ash would have heeded his parents' warnings about never listening to strangers, but since the entire day had been filled with strange people who each seemed to try and take him to other rooms around the school, Ash paid no attention to it.

He allowed the strange man to take him by the hand and lead him outside of the school. Outside of the strange building with the strange rooms where he was forced to try and write things and count to ten and other such boring things that his father had shown him how to do already. Yes, it was only when the strange man opened the door to a black vehicle, did Ash start to think something wasn't quite right.

**11:50 **"Get in." the man said to him. Ash held back for a moment.

"I want my mommy." The man nodded understandingly.

"I know that, bud. We work for your mommy. She sent us to come and get you because she really wants to see you right now." He said. Ash looked at the man strangely – something didn't seem right about this.

"Why can't mommy come get me?" Ash asked him. The man sighed, getting slightly irritated by how long it was actually taking to get him _in _the vehicle.

"Because she's busy. Now, get in the car." The man said.

"No." Ash said, taking a step back. The man grabbed him by collar of his shirt.

"Let me put it to you this way, kid. You either get in quietly, or I **shove** you in and you never see your mommy again, understand?" he growled. Ash slowly nodded, his eyes quickly filling with tears. The man released him, and Ash reluctantly climbed into the vehicle. The man walked around to the other side and climbed in, starting the vehicle and quickly driving off, right as another vehicle pulled in beside him. He saw the driver of the vehicle and slammed on the gas to pull away.

**11:53** Stephanie climbed out of her blue SUV and turned to look at the vehicle that was speeding away from her.

"Someone was in a hurry." She commented drily, shutting the door and pressing the button on her keypad to lock it. She walked up the sidewalk and through the main doors of the school to reach the office and asked which room her son, Ash Irvine was in.

The deer-in-headlights look that appeared on the secretary's face was not reassuring to Stephanie by any means, and when the principal came out of his office with a confused look on his face, Stephanie began to get concerned.

"You mean that you didn't approve for a man to come and pick up Ash?" the principal asked her. Stephanie nearly screamed at him.

"No! Why would I approve for anyone to come and remove my child from school?" Stephanie asked him.

"It was stated as a family emergency on the form." The principal said.

"What form? Who signed this?" Stephanie demanded.

**11:59 **The principal walked back into his office and shuffled through some papers before finding the one that had been signed only a few minutes prior. The principal handed the paper to Stephanie.

"Is Chris Irvine not the name of the child's biological father?" the principal asked as Stephanie examined the document.

The printed and signed name at the bottom of the page read Chris Irvine.

Stephanie reached for her cell phone.

**12:00**


	4. 12:00 to 1:00 PM

**12:00-1:00PM**

**12:00 **Chris stared dumbly at the ringing cell phone in his hand. The other two people sitting across from him watched as he continued staring at the caller i.d. on the screen.

"Who is it?" Dave asked him. Chris looked up as the phone rang for the third time.

"Stephanie." He said, and finally flipped the phone open. "Hello?" he asked cautiously. Had Stephanie not been so furious at him, she probably would have simply remained mute, just absorbing the sound of his voice again.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Stephanie demanded.

"Well, it's nice to talk to you too, Steph." Chris said, sarcastically.

"Don't play these games with me _Christopher_." She threatened. "Where's Ash?" Chris wrinkled his brow at her question.

"Although it's great to know you're okay, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'where's Ash?'" he said.

"Exactly what I just said!" She yelled at him.

"Well, as far as I know, he's in school – you don't exactly keep _me_ posted on these kinds of things you know." Chris spat bitterly.

"Well this is a hell of a way to get even." Stephanie shot at him. "Did you think that I wouldn't notice if you took him out of school?" Chris moved his gaze from the floor to the two men sitting across from him. Jay idly shuffled a deck of cards while Dave studied Chris's face.

"Stephanie, I'm really not sure what you're talking about." Chris said to her, calmly, although thoroughly confused. "Are you saying that Ash _isn't_ in school?"

"You ought to know, _you_ were the one who signed him out!" She nearly screamed at him. Chris felt his stomach begin to tie itself in a knot.

"Um…well, Steph, I hate to break it to you, but I've been at Jay's house for at least the past 30 minutes. I haven't been anywhere _near_ Ash for the better part of a year." Chris said.

"Why are you still denying this?" Stephanie asked him.

"Why are you so intent on thinking I had anything to do with it?!" Chris shouted, irritated that he was having to prove his innocence.

"Because I _saw_ your name – printed _and_ signed – on the fucking paper Chris!" Stephanie screeched at him. Chris paused for a second.

"You _read_ my name on the paper." Chris said to her, more as a question than as a statement.

"Yes!" she said.

"You could _legibly_ read _my_ name on _that_ paper?" he asked her. Stephanie sighed angrily.

"Yes, Chris, what's your point?"

"Tell me, Stephanie, in the seven years that we were married and did business together, how many times could you actually ever _read_ my handwriting?" He asked her.

The line was silent for a moment.

"Oh my God, you're right." Stephanie admitted. Chris closed his eyes for a moment – knowing now what had certainly happen, and what was going to come next.

"But Chris, if he's not with you…who is he with?" she asked him timidly.

"Could he be with…uh…" Chris started, suddenly finding it difficult to finish his sentence.

"Shawn?" Stephanie supplied for him.

"Yeah." He muttered.

"No, if Shawn was going to sign him out, he wouldn't have used your name." She said. "And besides that…I still don't know…" she trailed off. Chris waited for a moment.

"Still don't know what?" he prompted her.

"If he made it out of the building before the explosion went off." She finished. "I thought that maybe he would have called." Chris thought briefly of the image of Shawn being blown to pieces by a bomb, and quickly suppressed the urge to smile. Realization suddenly struck Stephanie.

"You don't think…you don't think that he was kidnapped, do you?" she asked him.

And there it was, plain and simple. What _did_ Chris think? Did he think that something had happened to their son that wasn't supposed to? Yes, he did. Did he also know, then, how his wife…ex-wife…would respond to his answer?

Yes, he did.

"We don't anything for sure, Steph." Chris told her, while also trying to silence his own fears on the situation.

"But what would they want him for?"

"Not entirely sure it's _him_ they want, dear. Not when so many other things don't fit." He said, before hearing what he was afraid he was going to hear.

Stephanie had begun sobbing on the other end of the line.

It was, at this moment, that Chris realized _truly_ how hard it is to be in love with someone. This woman had shattered his heart into a million pieces – not once, but twice – and he was _still_ sitting here, wishing that he had the right things to say to her to make her feel better. Wishing that he could tell her that they would find their son and that everything would work out all right, like it always has a way of doing. But, in that same instant, Chris saw the image that had haunted him for more than a year. Bedroom door slightly ajar…Ash's nightlight from down the hall…the quiet moaning that could just _barely_ be heard…He closed his eyes tightly to avoid seeing the whole scene again.

Chris took a deep breath.

"They're gonna call us, Steph." He said. Stephanie sniffled.

"How do you know?" she asked him.

"They didn't go through all this trouble to take him for no reason. They want something from us. They're going to have to contact us sooner or later." He said. She sniffled again. "In the mean time, go home, Stephanie. Take a rest, find…" he paused. "Find something to do. I'll call you if I hear anything." He said.

"Okay. I'll let you know if they try to contact me." She said. "I guess I'll go back to the house for now." Chris nodded.

"Good." He said.

"Okay." She paused. "Bye."

"Bye." He said before finally snapping the phone shut.

**12:32**Jay and Dave both leaned back at the sound of the phone snapping shut. Chris put his phone on the table sitting in front of him and buried his face in his hands.

"What?" Jay finally asked after a few moments of silence. "What's going on?"

"Somebody just signed Ash out of school." Chris said. "Using my name." Jay raised his eyebrows, while Dave leaned forward.

"When?" Dave asked him.

"Couldn't have been too long ago, Stephanie called me as soon as she saw my name on the paper. She thought that I was trying to get even with her for losing the custody battle." Chris said.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the phone calls we got?" Jay asked him, suddenly sitting up in his chair. Chris raised his head and stared at both of them with his bloodshot eyes.

"I think that this has _everything _to do with those phone calls." Chris said. "I mean, an attack on the WWE building foreshadowed, and you," Chris said, pointing to Dave. "You get a phone call at 5 in the morning saying something about an 'unforeseen danger' coming our way." He paused for a moment.

"But something I heard on the radio on my way over here seems a little too coincidental." He said, pausing yet again. "Orton." He said.

"Orton?" Jay and Dave both asked simultaneously. Chris nodded.

"Orton." He repeated. "I heard on the way over here that he was released from prison today. Somebody managed to come up with 10 million dollars' worth of spare change to spring Orton from prison. On today, of all days."

"So what does that mean?" Jay asked. Dave sighed.

"It means that Orton's got someone brainwashed into helping him with whatever sadistic plan that he's come up with." He said.

"For what?" Jay asked again.

"Revenge, most likely." Chris said. "Revenge for him spending six years in prison for murder, kidnapping, and God knows how many other things he wound up being charged with." Jay scoffed.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" he asked, as Chris's phone started making noise.

"'1New Msg.'" Chris read out loud. "Who the hell is sending me messages?" he pondered. He flipped his phone open and pushed to receive the message.

'You have a beautiful boy. I'd want to keep him that way if I were you. Wait for further instructions – no police.' It read. Chris saw that there was a picture attached. Despite what his brain was telling him, he pressed the button to view the picture.

Complete and total rage is the closest word that can be used to describe Chris Irvine's emotions on seeing a picture of his only child – terrified, bound and gagged, with a gun to his head.

**12:****57** Shawn jolted awake at the startling sensation of cold water being splashed on his face.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty." A strangely familiar voice rasped at him. Shawn coughed to try and rid himself from the gagging sensation that was in his mouth from being drugged.

"Who are you?" he asked hoarsely, wishing that his vision would clear. But, even if it would, somehow Shawn doubted that he would be able to make out the face of his captor in the dimly lit room.

"What do you want?" he asked again, his voice a little stronger this time.

"'Who are you? What do you want?'" the voice mocked him, and chuckled. Shawn heard movement around him, and then the person whispered in his ear.

"I want to expose you for the fake bastard you _really_ are." It said.

**1:00**


	5. 1:00 to 2:00 PM

**Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been enduring the first few weeks of the college life, and it has taken a while to get adjusted. I hope to start being consistent with these updates…Please bear with me!**

**1:00-2:00PM**

**1:00 **As soon as Stephanie pulled into her driveway, her cell phone began to ring. Her hand was shaking as she snatched it from the cup holder it had been resting in.

"Hello?" she asked timidly.

"Stephanie! Where have you been? I've been trying to call you all morning! I'm on my way over to your house right now!" Kurt Angle's voice nearly screamed at her from the other end with hysteria. Stephanie slightly chuckled with relief.

"I'm sorry Kurt." She said, as tears began to choke her. "Things have just gotten really out of hand today."

"Hey, Steph, look….I didn't mean to make you cry or anything." Kurt began sheepishly. Stephanie sniffled.

"No, it's not that, it's just….there's been a lot of things happening today…I don't even know where to start." She admitted. Kurt sighed.

"Well, you just wait about another five minutes, and then you can let loose. I'm almost there." Kurt said.

"Okay…I'll see you then." She said, hanging up the phone. She set it back in the cup holder and finally turned the ignition off. Numbly, she gathered the few things that she had in her vehicle and made her way into the house. She didn't immediately see the manila envelope lying on her kitchen floor until she had set her things down on the table and turned towards the door to try and clear her head.

Curiously, she walked over to the envelope and knelt down to pick it up. There was nothing written on it, it was completely blank, and for a moment, Stephanie thought that it had merely fallen out of the cabinet that she kept her extra office supplies in. Once she picked it up, she realized that there was something _inside _the envelope. She quickly tore it open, and caught one of the two items that fell out. The item she caught was a paper. On it, read: "I hope you didn't pay too much for this shirt…blood tends to ruin the color."

Stephanie's hands shook and she dropped the paper to the floor, where it landed next to another object…a bloody piece of the shirt that Ash had worn to school that day. Stephanie stumbled for her cell phone and started dialing.

**1:24 **Chris Irvine ran a hand over his clean shaven face. His buried his face in a towel and tried to block out the terrifying thoughts that ravaged his mind. He had been going insane over the past half hour. He was worried to death about his son, and it was driving him crazy to sit around waiting for something to happen. Finally, after he had paced the front room of Jay's house about 30 times, Jay had told him to occupy himself with something simple. Some sort of task to take his mind off of things for a while.

So, Chris had decided to shave.

He'd looked like a hobo off the streets, and he knew that if….when he found his son, he would need to be able to recognize him easily. That task would not be easy for Ash if his father looked like Sasquatch.

Chris's phone began to vibrate. He sighed deeply and pulled it from his pants pocket.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Chris? I heard from them." Stephanie said. "They haven't made any demands, but I heard from them." Chris closed his eyes.

"So did I." he said.

"When?"

"Not too long ago." He said, remembering that he was supposed to have called her when he heard anything. "You?"

"It was in an envelope on the floor when I got home." She said. She paused for a moment. "Chris?" Chris leaned against the wall in the bathroom.

"Yes?"

"What do you think they want from us this time?" she asked him. "I mean, me I can understand, but you…why did they target you too?" She had to stop herself from saying the words "we're not married anymore," but Chris heard them loud and clear.

"I don't know. I'm trying to piece things together on my end too. There've been some things that just don't match up with Dave and Jay yet."

"You don't think that they're _involved_, do you?" she asked.

"No. I don't think that they're involved with Ash going missing, but I do think that they're in as much danger as we are." Chris said before pausing for a second. He debated even telling her, but he knew that it would be a mistake if he waited any longer. "Orton was released from prison today." Stephanie felt as if the ground below her had just been yanked free.

"What? How?" She asked him in disbelief.

"I don't know yet, but I'm willing to bet that he had something to do with this. I mean, what are the odds of him getting out of prison on the same day that both the WWE building was attacked, _and_ our son goes missing?"

"Not good." Stephanie admitted.

"Not good is right." Chris agreed with her. "I think that part of this may be a revenge plot." He said.

"And the other part?" she asked him.

"Could be any number of things, Steph. The sky's the limit." He told her. She nodded. Chris hadn't done anything to alleviate her fears, but he had at least given her a direction to look in for the answer.

"Do you have any idea where Orton is, or who got him out?" Stephanie asked him as her doorbell started to ring.

"None, but whoever it is has a very deep pocket book. They managed to come up with the 10 million dollar bail price." Chris informed her.

"Do we know anybody that Orton still hangs out with?" Stephanie asked him as she made her way to the front door.

"None that are still alive, as far as I know." Chris told her. "I'm still thinking, though."

"I'll take a look over here too and see if I can come up with anything." She told him. "I need something to take my mind off of Ash for the moment. If I don't, I'm going to go insane." She admitted.

"I know. I'm worried about him too." Chris said quietly. Stephanie quickly peeked out the front door and stood there for a second before opening it.

"Well, I think that I'm going to let you go for now, Chris, Kurt just showed up. I'll let you know if anything else comes up." She said, and paused. "Chris?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry." She said bluntly. "About…about earlier. I didn't mean to accuse you right off the bat. I know that you are a better person and you wouldn't stoop that low. I just wasn't thinking….I'm sorry." She repeated.

Chris was slightly taken aback. "It's all right, Stephanie," Was all he could manage to say.

"Ok, I'll call you later."

"Bye." Chris said before closing the phone. He opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out into the living room, where he had last seen Jay and Dave.

They were nowhere in sight.

"Jay?" Chris asked. "Dave? You guys still here?" he asked, walking around the room. He saw movement from the corner of his eye, and tried to whirl around to defend himself, but the combination of the alcohol in his system and his time spent away from action seriously hindered his reaction time. The mystery person struck a well-aimed punch at his jaw line that knocked Chris flat on his back. His head was reeling and he tried to stumble to his feet, but a boot shot to the head knocked him unconscious.

**1:46 **Kurt and Stephanie were sitting at her kitchen table, after she had just finished filling Kurt in on the events of the day. His hands were folded and the look on his face was one of concern.

"So, other than the threats, you have no idea where Ash is?" Kurt asked her. She shook her head and blew her nose into another Kleenex, and then added it to the quickly growing pile on her end of the table. "And you think that Orton is behind it, based on the fact that he's tried to do this to your family once before?" Stephanie nodded this time. Kurt nodded with her. "It makes logical sense." He admitted.

"Yes, but that doesn't exactly help me with getting my son back, now does it?" Stephanie asked him. Kurt shook his head, right as Stephanie's cell phone began to ring. She quickly picked it up. "Hello?" she asked.

"Stephanie?"

Stephanie wrinkled her brow for a second. "Shawn?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, Steph, it's me." He said. Stephanie felt a smile growing across her face.

"Oh my God, you had me scared to death!" She nearly screamed at him. Shawn coughed.

"I know, I'm sorry. " he said.

"Ash has been kidnapped." Stephanie told him. Shawn sighed.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry. Do you have any idea what happened?" he asked her.

"Not yet, but Chris and I are working on it." She said. Shawn was taken aback.

"Chris?" he asked. "I wasn't aware that the two of you were still speaking? "

"We weren't." She admitted. "It's a long story."

"Well, can you come pick me up?" Shawn asked her.

"Sure." Stephanie said, while ignoring the looks she was getting from Kurt. "Where are you?"

"Corner of Pine and Grand." He said.

"I'll be there as soon as I can." She said, and hung up on him. She turned to Kurt. "That was Shawn."

"And?" Kurt supplied for her.

"And he wants me to come and pick him up, his car was destroyed." Stephanie said. "Is there anything wrong with that?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, I don't suppose there is."

**1:59 **Shawn glared at the faceless man that was hovering over him.

"You did well, Shawn." He said. Shawn glared at him, while the man across from Shawn, who was holding a gun to Ash's head, lowered his weapon, and took a step back.

**2:00**


	6. 2:00 to 3:00PM

**Well, faithful reviewers, after almost a two month absence this time, I come bearing a lovely chapter that I think you will all enjoy. I had a little extra time on my hands this week and I decided to come back and work on this beauty of a story! Hopefully it was worth the two month wait (I'm sorry...school consumes my free time).**

**2:00-3:00PM**

**2:00** _Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding._

Chris squeezed his eyes shut to try and lessen the throbbing pain that was wreaking havoc inside his skull. He also felt like he was in the middle of the ocean, since everything around him seemed to be moving. When he tried to use his hands to feel the ground around him and make sure that he wasn't, he realized that his hands and feet were both bound.

_Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding._

As the incessant dinging of a car door continued to echo through his head, he tried to open his eyes. After registering briefly that he was in a vehicle, he came to the conclusion that the stupid dinging was due to someone's carelessness about the door. He also came to the conclusion that he was not moving, and that _that_ part was all in his head. And yet, with all of these things running through Chris's mind, he couldn't stop thinking about how damn annoying that sound was.

_Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding._

"Shut the fucking door!" Someone from outside the vehicle yelled. Chris hadn't noticed people talking outside the vehicle prior to this, but he couldn't have agreed with the person more. Once the door was shut and the dinging had ceased, he could only catch muffled bits and pieces of the conversation that was taking place outside the vehicle. Chris slowly opened his eyes again, welcomed with a slightly better experience this time, when he was rewarded with a stationary ceiling to look at. His head still hurt like hell, but at least he could see straight. He heard some rustling to his left and he turned his head slowly to see who or what he was laying next to.

He had to bite down on his tongue to keep from uttering a sound when he found himself face-to-face with a bullet hole in Dave Batista's head.

Chris wanted nothing more than to shut his eyes and erase the image from his memory, but he couldn't bring himself to do either. He studied Batista's face and felt a numbing sensation begin to crawl through his body as he did so. Dave looked so peaceful - he almost could have been asleep. Had it not been for the piercing hole that seemed to bore through Chris's eyes, he would been inclined to think that Dave was merely unconscious as he himself had just been.

The longer he stared, the more a nauseous feeling began to creep into Chris's stomach, and he finally looked away when he could no longer see clearly. He focused back on the ceiling of the van for a moment, (it had to be a van, Chris reasoned, since no other vehicle looked like this on the inside) as he let a few tears roll down his face.

When he finally returned his gaze on the big man, he softly whispered, "I'm sorry."

A voice from the other side of the van whispered back, slightly annoyed, "For what?"

Chris wrinkled his brow. "Jay?" he whispered again.

"Chris? Are you alright?" Jay's hushed voice came back from the other side of Dave. Chris couldn't see him from the other side of the massive man, and he didn't dare give away the fact that he was conscious to the people still outside the van arguing about something.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You?" Chris shot back.

"I've got a massive headache. How's Dave, can you tell?" Jay asked him. Chris paused for a moment.

"He's dead." Chris whispered back. There was silence from the other side of Batista, and then there was a sigh. Chris took the time to try and determine who was speaking outside the van, and what they were arguing about.

"Are you sure?" Jay asked him.

Chris turned to look at Dave again. He hadn't moved from his original position, and the bullet hole was indeed still there. "Yeah, I'm sure." He said.

"Can you make out what they're saying?" Jay asked him.

"Not really. How long have you been awake?"

"Since we pulled over to stop." Jay whispered back again as the back door to the van flew open. Both men closed their eyes and remained motionless. One of the unknown men climbed into the van and walked up towards the front, while the other stayed at the back end. The front man crouched down to pick up Batista's torso, while the other man tried to pick up his legs. After a few failed attempts to move the big man, they finally succeeded in getting him out of the van, where they promptly slammed the door shut again. Chris and Jay both opened their eyes simultaneously to stare at each other. The only remnant to show that Batista had ever been there was the pool of blood on the unlined floor.

"Do you know who it is yet? Have you seen their faces?" Chris whispered to him. Jay shook his head.

"No. They didn't say much of anything, until they were outside. By that time the stupid dinging had started, and I couldn't hear anything over that." Jay informed him before the back door was opened again. One of the men crawled into the back with them again, and this time he started to pick Jay up. Chris peeked out of the corner of his eye to see what was happening, just to see Jay jump out of their hands and try to fight their captors. He wriggled free of their grasp and jumped onto the man who was standing outside. When the man who was in the van tried to follow, Chris swept his legs out from under him.

From the moment that their unspoken rebellion had started, it was doomed. After all, there really aren't that many good ways to fight when your hands and legs are bound together. A gunshot echoed throughout the empty forest that surrounded the road they were on, and Chris turned to look outside the van.

Chris recognized the man he'd deemed "Man 1" as none other than Gene Snitsky, and he was fairly certain that the man that he'd just leg-swept was someone he'd either never met or couldn't remember, but somehow another man had entered the fray while Chris's back was turned.

And this mystery man had just shot Jay in the chest.

Chris didn't realize that he was screaming until the two men he'd seen and recognized started shoving a rag with a bitter scent in his mouth to try and shut him up. They covered his mouth with duct tape and he kept right on trying to scream until he finally had to take a breath. The drug was already starting to take its effect, and the last thing that Chris saw before he passed out was Jay's lifeless body sprawled out next to the beaten down road.

**2:18** Stephanie was grabbing her keys and getting ready to leave as Kurt followed her with his eyes.

"Does any of this seem a little odd to you?" Kurt asked her. She stopped to look at him for a moment.

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"Shawn calling you to come and pick him up all of a sudden," Kurt stated. "That doesn't strike you as a little weird, considering the day you've had and the fact that he hasn't called before now?"

"Maybe he couldn't get to the phone?" Stephanie suggested, only to be rewarded with an extremely doubtful expression. "Look, Kurt, I appreciate you being concerned and everything, but seriously, I can't be paranoid about every single thing that happens. If I started doing that, I'd have to start assuming that you had something with the things that have happened today too." Kurt sighed and opened his mouth to reply, when she cut him off again.

"I'm _going_ to pick him up, okay? End of discussion. I've got to maintain some sense of order in my life or I'm gonna go insane." She said. Kurt merely closed his mouth and stood up.

"I still don't think that you should, but if you need any help, just call, okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"I will. I promise." She said. Kurt let himself out and Stephanie locked the door behind him. She hurried around to grab a few more things before heading out to her car. She whipped her cell phone out while she was climbing in and dialed Chris. It went straight to voicemail.

"Hey, this is Chris. Leave me a message." The recording said. Stephanie turned her car on and shifted it into reverse.

"Chris, it's Steph. I just waned to let you know that Shawn called, and he needs me to go and pick him up. I'm heading downtown now; it's about twenty after two. Call me if you find out anything else." She said, and then hung up. She finished backing out into the street and took off towards the location that Shawn had told her to pick him up at. Had she examined her rearview mirror, she would have seen the vehicle that pulled out from across the street begin to follow her.

**2:23** Shawn glared at the black material that was covering his head as he was basically pushed through a series of corridors. The faceless man walked right along beside him, keeping a firm grip on Shawn's arm and a gun pointed at his chest, should Shawn decide to take it upon himself to try and escape. He had been taunting Shawn endlessly about anything and everything that he could think of, as soon as they had started walking, and five minutes later it was still the same situation.

"Do you have any idea why I am doing this, Shawn?" the man asked. Shawn sighed.

"No. I don't. Would you care to enlighten me?" he asked. The man chuckled.

"It's a shame. This would be a little bit better if you did." The man said, and paused for a minute. "Shame about Cameron. I heard that he passed away a while back. I was sorry to hear it." Shawn turned his covered head to the direction that this man's voice was coming from.

"How the hell do you know anything about my son?" he demanded. The man simply ignored him.

"I heard that he was murdered by your wife…well, ex-wife at the time, if I'm not mistaken. Right after she escaped from the mental institution you put her in. That was nice of you to do." He said. Shawn snapped.

"What the hell do you want with me and my fiancée?" Shawn practically screamed at him. The man's voice reflected a little bit of surprise for the first time.

"Fiancée?" the man asked. "So you _proposed_ to her, huh?"

"What's it to you?" Shawn demanded.

"Oh, nothing. Just enjoying a bit of irony, that's all. I'm truly happy for the both of you. Have you set a date yet?" The man asked. "Are you planning on inviting Chris? I mean, after all, he was rather instrumental in hooking the two of you up."

"Go to hell." Shawn spat at him.

"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Shawn. I plan on seeing you there." The man said. "But first, I have some other business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me…" He trailed off for a moment. "Don't worry, Shawn, I'm sure we'll bump into each other later."

Shawn felt himself being roughly shoved into a vehicle, where his hood was ripped off and he found himself face-to-face with Mark Calloway, who pointed a gun in his face. Apart from the surprise of seeing Mark alive, Shawn was also a little bit uneasy to have a gun pointed at his head again.

"You do as we say, and no one gets hurt, understand? If you make one false move, I will kill Stephanie right in front of you." He said. Shawn nodded – that was something that he didn't need to be told twice. He knew that he was going to hate himself for only getting them farther into this situation, but he couldn't see any other way around it at the moment. They pulled out of a parking structure, and it was revealed to Shawn that he had hardly travelled any distance at all from his original starting point of WWE headquarters. He was only a few blocks away from it, and he could still see the smoke billowing in the air, even hours after the building had collapsed. The car wasn't moving, though, and Shawn turned to Mark for a moment. Mark was staring at him.

"You're going to wait right on that bench. I'm going to park across the street and watch. I will have a gun on you the whole time, understand?" Shawn nodded, and then started to ask a question he never thought he'd be asking in his life.

"How are you going to take her?" Shawn asked. Mark smirked a little bit.

"You'll see." Was the only thing that he said before shooing Shawn out of the car. Shawn walked over and sat on the bench and watched as Mark parked the car on the other side of the road.

**2:36 **There were a lot of things that Shawn was thinking about as he took a seat on that bench. He thought about not sitting down at all, and simply trying to outrun Mark, even if he was in a car and Shawn was only on foot. He thought about trying to call Stephanie and trying to warn her that she was walking straight into a trap. He thought of the man who was holding him here, trying to come up with an identity to the man's voice. He thought about Ash, who was probably still scared out of his wits from having a gun pointed at his head. Lord knows it rattled Shawn every time that it happened, he couldn't even imagine being a child and having the same thing happen.

And, of course, he thought about Cameron.

He didn't have time to think about each topic too much, since Stephanie's vehicle pulled up in front of him moments after he sat down. He got up and started walking towards the vehicle. Seconds felt like an eternity. He heard the automatic locks being unlocked to the vehicle. He looked at Stephanie, and she smiled at him, visibly relieved to see him, but the smile faded soon after, when he kept the same stoic look. It was the last time that he would ever see her smile like that.

Then, as if to make up for all of the time that was lost with him walking to the car, everything else seemed to happen instantaneously. Mark had whipped the car around to Stephanie's side and flung open the driver's side door, dragging her out of the car by her hair screaming, and then tossing her into his car. He quickly pulled to go back into the parking structure, stopping a few feet from Shawn, who was debating about trying to fight back when Mark pointed his gun at him.

"Get in the fucking car _now_, Shawn." Mark demanded. Shawn stood there and Mark moved the gun to Stephanie's temple. She nearly screamed. Shawn cursed himself and climbed into the car, barely shutting the door before Mark sped off through the garage, emerging on the other side and then turning in the direction of the highway.

**2:42** When Kurt Angle rounded the last corner that he'd seen Stephanie's vehicle make, he was shocked to see her driver side door open and the vehicle still running. Kurt quickly parked his car and ran towards Stephanie's abandoned one. There was no one in the car, and there was no one even within yelling distance to scream at and ask if they had seen anything. She was gone, and so was Shawn, if he'd ever been there in the first place. Kurt noticed Stephanie's phone still sitting in the cupholder, so he turned the car off, taking the keys and phone with him back to his own car.

He was damned if he was going to give up here. He started going through the last few calls that she'd made on her cell phone. The most recent one had been Chris, so Kurt redialed the number, hoping that maybe Stephanie had told Chris something that she hadn't told him, even though the thought insulted him a little bit. Knowing that her ex-husband might know more about a situation than he, her best friend did, but he supposed that was how things went sometimes. When Chris's phone went straight to voicemail, Kurt hung up and stared out the windshield, pondering what to do next. And that was when he noticed a green Chevy Malibu pulling out of the parking structure that he had parked in front of. He happened to glance in the backseat as the car drove by, and saw a little boy who was crying in the backseat. Kurt kind of smiled to himself for a moment, until realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

The child in the backseat looked like Ash.

Kurt turned on his car and shifted it into gear, nearly peeling out he'd slammed the gas on so hard. But, he was determined to catch up to the vehicle that was holding Ash.

**2:54**When Chris came to for the second time he was being carried by the two men that he'd seen in the van, and it looked like they were following the man that had shot Jay. Chris felt like he'd been hit by a truck, both emotionally and physically. He'd just seen the two people who had helped him through the hardest time of his life murdered, and he had the horrible feeling that he wasn't through with this roller coaster day yet.

The man in front of them suddenly stopped walking. The two carrying Chris unceremoniously dumped him on the ground at this man's feet. The man crouched down to speak to Chris.

**2:58** "You know what Irvine, I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to me." A man's voice growled into his ear. "I'm going to make you so fucking miserable, you're going to wish you were dead." The man grabbed Chris by his hair and yanked his head back.

Any prior feelings that Chris may have had about this man were all thrown out the window when he saw his face. The only emotion he felt now was rage.

**3:00**


	7. 3:00 to 4:00 PM

**Hey everyone! I am SOOOO sorry about the long wait on this one. I had intentions of working on this over my Christmas break, and one thing kind of happened after another. Hopefully it was worth the wait to you, and be on the look out for another chapter very soon!**

**3:00-4:00PM**

**3:00** Chris took only a moment to process both the words that had been spoken to him and the person whose mouth was spitting them out.

"_I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done to me. I'm going to make you so fucking miserable, you're going to wish you were dead_." The words echoed slowly in his head as he began to feel the warm, familiar tingle of anger rise from deep in his gut. He began to clench his fists and his entire body tensed up.

"What I've done to you?" Chris's voice trembled as he tried to control the raging hate he felt for this man. "What _I've _done to _you_?!" He bellowed. "I fucking _trusted_ you – that's what I did." Chris said, his voice taking on a threatening tone.

"Trusted me with what?" the man asked him. "Your _terrible_ heartbreak with the divorce?" He scoffed. "You need to grow a set of balls, Chris." The man paused for a moment and smiled. "You trusted me with nothing more than a load of crap, Chris, and I'm actually surprised you even called to trust me with that much – especially since you fired me so unceremoniously a few years ago." Chris rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly.

"Oh, don't even give me that shit! You fucking quit! And, on top of that, it was Stephanie's call, not mine. I wasn't in charge of personnel and _you_ know that!" Chris yelled at him.

"You can't possibly tell me that you didn't have any say in that portion of the company."

"I didn't. Personnel is Stephanie's turf. I never messed with that. I controlled the financial aspects of the business and that's about as far as it went. She might ask for a second opinion if she was really torn about the decision, but for the most part, she does it by herself. And, if I remember correctly, you and I were still on good terms." Chris said to him.

"Good terms?" the man asked in disbelief. "Oh, Chris, you are so naïve. I will never forgive and befriend the company that put mine out of business."

"So, let me get this straight, _Paul_." Chris said. Paul Heyman looked back at him, his smile turning into somewhat of a scowl. "You're orchestrating all of this because I _used_ to own a company that was run by a man that put yours out of business? Am I thinking about this right?"

"No, no, no, Chris. I'm orchestrating this because I can. I'm orchestrating this because someone has finally shown me the error of your ways." He said. "Someone has told me how this company needs to be brought to its knees and needs to have a new leader emerge from the depths." Paul paused for a moment. "Vince was living _my_ dream, Chris. I never got the chance to live that dream. _Today_ marks the start of that dream." Chris chuckled and looked at each of the men who were still holding him up.

"Don't worry, Chris. In the grand scheme of things, today isn't even really about you. Today you are merely a pawn in my game – expendable, but still valuable to the overall victory." Paul told him.

"Well, you know Paul, that's all fine and dandy, but I don't own any part of that company anymore. And, if you were thinking about using me to get to Stephanie, you might as well forget it. It's a waste of time." Chris said to him. "She couldn't care less about me right now."

"I beg to differ." Paul told him. Chris studied his face for a moment, trying to decide to ignore the comment that was just made and then spoke again.

"So, if I'm so 'expendable' as you put it, then why am I even alive right now? Why not just kill me and save me the trouble of waiting?" Chris asked him.

"Oh, Chris… I know that right now you'd love nothing more than for me to kill you, seeing as you couldn't get the job done yourself." He said, pausing to look at Chris, who was glaring back up at him. "And right now, you are more valuable to me alive than dead." Paul told him.

"So why _am_ I here, Paul?" Chris demanded, getting frustrated with the situation. "What is this place?" He asked, nodding his head towards the warehouse that was behind Paul. Paul took in a breath and clasped his hands together.

"All in good time, Chris. All in good time." He paused and started walking towards the warehouse before stopping and turning to speak once again. "Should I tell your _ex_-wife and your son hello when they get here?"

Upon first seeing Paul Heyman's face, the fuse that was Chris Irvine's temper ignited. But, when he heard that his ex-wife and his son were suddenly being dragged into this place for some revenge play, he exploded. Without warning, he lunged at Heyman, and came within inches of reaching him and tearing him to shreds. The two men who had been holding him in place tackled him to the ground just before he got there. He writhed and tried to wiggle free from them in the gravel, but only succeeded in knocking up a bunch of dust. Soon after, he stopped struggling and allowed himself to be pinned face down to the ground. He glared up at Heyman, who simply grinned down at him. Heyman turned to the other two men.

"Snitsky, Kennedy." He said. "Do what you want with him to calm him down, and then bring him inside." Chris shifted again and Heyman paused for a second. "Our other guests will be arriving soon. I need to make a phone call and see where they are."

Gene Snitsky wrestled Chris's arms behind his back as Ken Kennedy slowly shifted his weight off of Chris. Once Snitsky had a good hold of Chris, he dragged him up to his knees as Kennedy stalked slowly around them, much like a vulture eyeing its prey. True to form, Chris took his beating like a man, never once letting a sound of agony escape from his lips.

When they had finished with him, Chris was beaten to the proverbial pulp, and they were dragging his unconscious form into the warehouse.

**3:24** "Where are we going?" Ash asked the man that was driving the car he was in.

"We're going to see your mom." The man answered him.

"Why did that other man hold a gun at me?" Ash asked the man, turning more to face him and whine.

"We did what we had to." He responded.

"But what about Shawn? Is he-?" Ash was cut off in mid-sentence as the man reached out his right hand and struck him across the face.

"**Stop asking questions!**" He bellowed at him. Ash reached a hand up to his face as the tears began to well up in his eyes. He recoiled into a ball and scooted as far away from the man as he could get in the passenger seat. He turned to peer out the window into one of the side mirrors of the vehicle, and noticed a car behind them. It captured his attention only for a moment, soon after he went back to looking out the window.

Kurt Angle, who was in the vehicle following Ash and this strange man, had seen enough of the encounter to know that something wasn't right. It boiled his blood to see what little of it he could. He was finally beginning to realize, however, just how difficult it was to actually follow a vehicle and remain unseen by the person. In everyday traffic, no one pays that much attention to the vehicles around them, not enough to know if someone is following them immediately, anyway. Following someone intentionally made Kurt paranoid of being seen and caught and that simply couldn't happen if he ever wanted to see his friends safe again.

**3:32** "Are you in on this too?" Stephanie was nearly screaming, turned around, facing the backseat, which held a very withered, and worn looking Shawn Hickenbottom. "Are you in on this too?!"

"No, Stephanie, of course not!" He yelled back at her finally.

"Then why were you helping them?" She asked him. "Why did you lead me into this?"

"Stephanie, I'm asking you, please let it go for the moment. Accept the fact-" Shawn started to rationalize, when Stephanie cut him off.

"Let it go?!" Stephanie demanded. "Do you honestly think that I'm just going to let this go?"

"Accept the fact," Shawn continued. "That this happened, and that it is what it is right now. I promise to you that I will explain what is happening when we get out of this, but for the moment, you're going to have to trust me." He said. Stephanie scoffed at him before turning around.

"I trusted you this morning and look where it landed me." She muttered.

"All right, all right." Mark Calloway said, butting in on the conversation. "As much as I hate to interrupt the little love fest that is occurring right at this very moment, I'm tired of listening to it. So would ya please shut up?"

"Gladly." Stephanie said. Shawn snorted.

"Well now, that's a first." He muttered.

"What was that?" she asked him, turning back around, right as Mark's hand collided with her cheek with a resounding smack. She reeled backwards into the door and the passenger side window. Shawn made like he was going to lunge into the front seat and attack, but Mark whipped around and held a gun under his chin. With all of the bickering going on between him and Stephanie, he had completely failed to realize that they were no longer moving.

"Sit back in the seat, Shawn." Mark growled at him. "Sit back down, or next time, she'll get a bullet in her head."

Shawn kept his position for a few moments longer, leveling his gaze with Mark's, the barrel of his gun still pressed under Shawn's chin.

"Why don't you just pull the trigger right now?" Shawn asked him.

"Don't tempt me." Mark said.

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Stephanie asked him, leaning back against the passenger window, clutching her cheek. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. He turned to her.

"Stephanie, this is just stupid to keep getting jerked around like this." He said. "I'm sick of-"

The sound of a gunshot cut off Shawn's sentence midway. He flopped back against the seat and clutched his neck, moaning in pain. Stephanie screamed when the gun went off, and turned in disbelief to Mark, who simply shrugged.

"He said he was tired of it." He said, and then seeing the look on Stephanie's face, he added. "He'll be fine. I just grazed him." Mark looked back at Shawn.

"Are we all ready to keep moving now?" He asked.

**3:43 **When Chris came to, he was in a dimly lit room that was actually smaller than the living room in his apartment, which was comparable to a sardine can. His hands and feet were no longer bound, but judging by the way he felt, and the way he imagined he looked, he wasn't sure that he was even up to trying a resistance. Instead, he felt content to simply stare at the ceiling and remain motionless, thinking about the events of the day.

How had it come to this…again? How had he been put in this predicament for a third time? Was it sad that he really wasn't even fazed about it anymore? He sighed and closed his eyes. He wondered how his son would look when he saw him…wondered if he would know who Chris was. He had shaved his face earlier, but he had also gotten a severe haircut about a month ago. He knew that the two together would have made it difficult for Ash, but he figured that one change wouldn't be too hard to figure out.

He thought about Stephanie. About where she fit into all of this. About how she had taken over her father's business. About the conversation that they had had through their lawyers about the fate of the business. She had offered to let him continue to work for the WWE, to even keep the same job that he had, and he had tried it for a while. Eventually, as the divorce dragged on, things got worse. He stopped showing up to work because every time he saw her and…Shawn…he could hardly control the rage inside of him. He was still an active member of the roster, and in his last match he had seriously injured one of the other talents while trying to vent his anger on the matter.

From there, he destroyed the things in their house. The house that he later wound up giving to her in the settlement. He had burned their mattress on the front lawn when she was supposed to have come by to have some of the paperwork signed. She wound up getting just about everything that they had ever owned. He had visitation rights with Ash for a while, but when he had started drinking, Stephanie didn't want him around Ash in that frame of mind, and he couldn't say that he blamed her.

After that, everything else in his life just fell apart. He lost touch with friends. He started to withdraw into himself. He had spoken to Paul Heyman about the whole situation a few months after everything went to hell, since he had called Chris on a business matter, and Chris had to confide to him why he was no longer involved in the business process.

Then his thoughts ventured to the place that he had not allowed them to go since the event had happened. He felt a lump rise in his throat as the images and emotions came back to him. He remembered researching the right model, the right place, the right ammunition…everything. He had thought about doing it countless times before, and before he had always been able to talk himself out of it. There was always that one reason that would finally break him and he would walk away from the store thinking that he was stupid for even bringing it up in the first place.

But not this night.

The final divorce papers were lying out on the coffee table in the apartment before him, awaiting only his signature to make the document legal and binding. With his signature, the bond between him and Stephanie would be broken forever…legally, at least. He couldn't remember how many times he had picked that pen up and tried to sign it. Each time he lowered the pen to the paper, he found that his arm was impossible to move. Eventually he talked himself into walking down the block to the store to finally buy it.

It didn't seem real. Not the purchase, not the walk back, not the memory of him loading it…all of that seemed like a dream to him. The instant that it finally became real was when he picked up that pen and signed it with such force that it put a small hole in the paper. He could still see the pen sitting on the table where he had dropped it after signing the paper. He could still remember how his eyes had started to tear up at that moment. His arm seemed to be working on autopilot. He didn't remember thinking much of anything until the barrel of the gun nuzzled its way next to his temple.

In that instant, he saw everything. He saw his heartbreak with Stephanie. He saw the car wreck that had both separated them the first time. He saw everything that had ever made him feel horrible, and his finger squeezed the trigger. But, right on the tail of all of the things in his life that were wrong, he thought of all of the things that had made him happy. He thought of their wedding. He thought of Ash's birth, his first steps, and his first words. He opened his eyes and he found himself staring at the picture that Stephanie had taken of he and Ash together on the beach the summer right after he had learned to walk. After seeing the picture, he couldn't stop the thought.

"_What would Ash think of his father if he killed himself_?"

And it was _that_ thought that broke him out of his trance. He threw the gun across the room as hard as he could and began to sob.

**3:56 **"**Yo!**Sleeping beauty, you hear what I said?" Kennedy was yelling at him, bringing him back to the world of the present.

"No, captain, I did not." Chris said, remaining motionless. Kennedy walked across the room and stood over Chris, so that he appeared to be upside down.

"I said that there's someone here Paul wants you to see, so I suggest you get your ass up and into these-" he said, jiggling a pair of handcuffs "So that we can get moving." Chris sighed and stood up. Kennedy slapped the handcuffs on him, pinning his arms behind his back. "Good." He said. "Now let's go."

Chris allowed himself to be marched around through various hallways and rooms until he was brought to a larger room that seemed to look much like an old barn. Paul was standing right in front of him, which prevented him from making a visual "sweep" of the room.

"Nice to see you so soon again, Paul." Chris said, his voice sounding a little raw. Paul smirked and nodded.

"Likewise, Chris." He said, and shifted his eyes around him a little bit before sighing. "Don't say that I never did anything for you." He said.

"Never did anything for me…?" Chris started to ask and trailed off, when Paul stepped out of the way.

"Keep an eye on him, Kennedy." Paul said, "I have to keep _him_ occupied for a few minutes." Kennedy nodded as Paul waddled off. Chris simply stood there in shock.

Standing about ten feet in front of him was his son, Ash, in the flesh and blood. Ash was staring at him.

"Daddy?" he asked. Chris felt the lump in his throat return and he choked back tears of joy as he ran to his son, who wrapped his small arms around him. "Daddy!" he nearly screamed.

**4:00 **Chris fell to his knees in front of his son, right as Ash tackled him with a hug. He thought that his heart would burst with joy. He wished that his hands were free to wrap his arms around his son and attempt to shield him from everything that had happened and everything that was going to happen.


	8. 4:00 to 5:00 PM

**Woo hoo! As promised, another chapter up by the end of the week! Enjoy!**

**4:00-5:00PM **

**4:00 **Ash let up on his hug to look at his father.

"Papa, you're hurt. And you got your hair cut." He observed, bouncing his hands over his father's short hair. Chris nodded.

"Yeah. Looks like you got yours cut too." He said, chuckling. But then he remembered the severity of the issue at hand. "Are you okay, champ? Did they hurt you?" Ash didn't meet his gaze.

"I'm okay." He said, his voice quivering slightly. Chris leaned to the left slightly to investigate what looked like a change in color on his son's cheek.

"Did someone hit you?" Chris asked his son seriously. Ash looked around at the floor for a few moments before looking back up into his father's curious blue eyes.

"Yeah." He finally admitted. Chris set his jaw and kept his gaze even with his son's. He made a mental note to seriously injure whoever had done this to him, but did not let the look of revenge enter his face. His son had been around enough violence for one day.

"Do you know who it was?" he asked instead. Ash nodded. "So you would know him if you saw him?" Chris continued. Ash nodded again.

"It was the same guy who picked me up from school." Ash said. Chris made another mental note to now possibly paralyze the person who was responsible for both kidnapping and injuring his son, since he had been blamed for the former earlier today already. He nodded.

"Ok, well, you just make sure to point him out when you see him, all right?" Chris said, pausing for a moment. "God it's good to see you, kiddo." He said, smiling fully for the first time in a long time. Ash smiled a toothy grin back.

"I missed you too, papa." He said, and hugged his father again.

"Oh, isn't that just sweet?" a man said from behind Chris. Chris sighed. He knew that voice. He had come to hate its owner. For a moment, he had allowed himself to believe that he was in a make-believe world that was perfect and complete with just him and his son. But now, he was faced with reality's cold blow. Chris turned his head to glare at the man who was standing a little ways behind him.

"Oh don't let me break up your little love fest, Chris. Please, continue. You never know, it might be the last one that you two ever have." He said. Chris narrowed his eyes at him.

"Good to see you again, Randall. Heard you made it out on bail today. Seems like you've been busy making some new friends while you were behind bars." Chris said to none other than Randy Orton, who was standing side-by-side with Paul Heyman. "Why am I suddenly not surprised?" Chris asked. "I should have figured that vermin live together."

"Daddy," Ash whispered. Chris leaned in closer to his son without breaking his gaze with the other two men. "He's the guy."

Chris turned to face his son for a moment. "The younger one or the older one?"

"Younger." Ash said. Chris gritted his teeth and turned back to Orton and Heyman. Orton was standing there, smiling right back.

"I ought to rip you limb from limb." Chris said. "I ought to _murder_ you for what you've done."

"What _I've_ done?" Randy asked incredulously. "Hey, fair is fair, you ruined my life. I'm ruining yours." He said. "Oh, how are Steph and Shawn doing, by the way? Do you know?" Randy asked him. Chris started to get to his feet. Kennedy was there in front of him in an instant.

"You should consider yourself lucky that my hands are handcuffed behind my back right now you son of a bitch." Chris said with an eerie calmness to his voice.

"My goodness, Chris! You should watch your language around the youngster!" Randy said, gesturing to Ash. Ash stood behind his father's pant leg, his arm linked around it, like an escort. Chris was momentarily distracted by the sounds of a muffled scream.

**4:08** "Looks like the rest of the gang is here." He said, as a door on the far side of the room opened and Mark Calloway walked in, clutching a squirming Stephanie McMahon, while pointing a gun at Shawn, who was a few paces ahead of him, clutching his neck. Chris let out a deep breath and looked away from them. Kennedy kept a firm grip on Chris's handcuffs as well as Ash's shoulder to keep both of them in place. Randy smiled when he saw the reaction on Chris's face. Things were beginning to fall into place. Shawn walked past Chris slowly, and for a moment, their eyes met. Both of their faces were expressionless, unreadable. Mark dumped Stephanie unceremoniously to the ground a few feet across from where Chris was standing and then stood behind her. Stephanie landed hard on her knees and slowly stood back up, brushing herself off.

"Momma!" Ash screamed, wiggling free of Kennedy and running towards Stephanie. Kennedy made a move like he was going to stop him, but Randy shook his head.

"Let him go." Randy said. "Let him enjoy his mother's company for a while."

Stephanie engulfed her son in a hug and started to smother him with kisses.

"Oh, baby." She kept whispering over and over. "Oh baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asked him. She kept running her hands over his face as though he was a piece of fine China that she thought she had almost broken. Hugging him as if she hadn't seen him in decades. Shawn stepped over and knelt down next to them, putting a hand on Ash's shoulder. After a few more moments, Stephanie glanced up at Chris, almost not recognizing him at first, but she realized it was him with a quick double take. She gave him a small smile and he smirked at her.

"Awwww….this is a regular little family reunion we've got going on here!" Randy said, finally taking a step out, and puling Ash away from Stephanie and Shawn. While holding on to his shoulder, Randy looked at Shawn's neck and then back to Mark.

"I thought I was clear when I said that he wasn't to be touched?" Randy asked him. Mark shrugged.

"He was becoming difficult. He's just grazed. He'll be fine." Mark said. Randy shook his head.

"_He_ asked that Shawn be completely untouched." Randy reminded him. Mark nodded.

"I know what he said." Mark paused. "But, I had to do something, they were driving me nuts." Randy exhaled deeply and slightly rolled his eyes before moving on.

"Well, take him down to the medical wing." Randy told him. Mark grabbed Shawn by the arm and pulled him back to his feet. Shawn glared at him for a moment, and then finally looked down to Stephanie, who was slightly shaking her head to keep him from doing something stupid. He changed his glance once more to Chris, who was torn between a whole mess of emotions. Then he allowed Mark to lead him to the "medical wing".

Randy turned to Kennedy. "Take these two-" he said, gesturing to Chris and Stephanie "to the room we had him in earlier. I want to keep them on a tight leash at all times until _he_ gets here. I'm not entirely sure when that will be." Kennedy nodded and led Chris over to Stephanie, where he grabbed her by the arm and started to lead them both away. Before they got to the hallway, Chris headbutted Kennedy and kicked him behind the kneecap. Just as it was about time for Chris to think through his next few moves, Randy was on top of him, shoving him into the corner that marked the beginning of the hallway, creating a gash above Chris's right eye. Paul was holding Ash back as Stephanie was trying to pull Randy off of Chris. Quickly Kennedy regained his composure and grabbed Stephanie right as Randy finished beating on Chris.

"Where the fuck did Snitsky wander off to?" Randy demanded as he handed a groggy and bloody Chris back over to Kennedy. "What do I pay you people for?" he wondered aloud to himself. Kennedy quickly marched them back to the room as Randy dusted himself off.

"I want my mom!" Ash screamed at him as Paul held him back. Randy merely laughed at him and looked at Paul.

"We're making _excellent_ progress." He remarked.

**4:16** Kennedy shoved Stephanie into the room and quickly uncuffed Chris, glaring at him before tossing him into the room and slamming the door shut. Chris stumbled and fell to the ground. Stephanie made her way over to him cautiously. She set his head in her lap, and ripped off a small corner of his t-shirt to wipe some of the blood off of his face.

"That's my favorite shirt you just ruined." Chris said, without even opening his eyes to look at her. She smirked.

"Sorry, I guess you'll have to try and find a replacement…uh…Ozzy t-shirt." She said. "Don't you have like fifty of his shirts?"

"Yeah, but this one is my favorite." He said, as she wiped his forehead clean of blood.

"That figures." She said. There was a silence between them as she pressed the piece against the cut on his head in an effort to get it to clot.

"You got your hair cut." She murmured. Chris snorted.

"That's the same thing Ash said when he saw me." He said, opening his eyes to look at her fully for the first time.

She had almost forgotten just how _blue_ those eyes were. She had seen them every day in her son, but somehow they were different seeing them in the original person she knew to have them. She forgot how easy it was to get lost in them.

"Well, we haven't seen you for a while." She remarked. Chris instantly stiffened and started to sit up, taking the cloth from her.

"Well, that wasn't exactly _my_ fault." He said curtly. Stephanie sighed.

"Don't go there Chris. I don't want to have this argument again. Once was more than enough." She said, waving her hands around in the air while she spoke. Chris reached out and grabbed her left hand, pulling it closer to his face.

"That's not my ring." Chris said, looking up at her quizzically. There was another gap of silence between them. Stephanie suddenly found speaking to be an impossible task. There were no right words to say in that moment, so Chris found some for her. "He finally proposed, huh?" Stephanie looked back up at him, trying to register what the look was that he was giving her.

"Yeah…last night." She said. Chris nodded and let her hand drop. He turned and kind of limped over to sit next to the wall and she followed him.

"I told him that I just wasn't sure about anything yet, Chris." She started to explain, but he held up a hand to silence her.

"Stephanie," he said, "we're not married anymore. You don't have to explain yourself to me." Stephanie looked down at the ring and then looked back up at him.

"I know, Chris. It's just that-" she started, but he cut her off.

"Just that what? You found someone else?" He asked her rather harshly. "I know you're happier with him than you were with me, so why should I get upset about it? What's done is done Stephanie, just leave it at that." He said, studying her face. For a moment, she looked like she was going to say something back to him, but then she thought better of it, and opted simply to sit next to him instead.

"I didn't want to hurt you again." She murmured. Chris scoffed at her and turned to face her. "I'm serious, Chris!" she said to his skeptical face. "You can believe whatever you want, but the truth of the matter is…" she paused for a moment, as if searching for the right thing to say. "I-I-" she started, but was cut off by the sound of the door opening once again. Shawn came stumbling into the room, still clutching his neck, which was now bandaged. Kennedy made to shut the door again, until Stephanie came up and tried to keep it open.

"What are you doing with Ash?" she asked him. Kennedy looked at her for a moment.

"He's fine. He's with Randy."

"What is he doing with Randy?" she demanded. Kennedy shrugged.

"Damned if I know, lady." He said before pulling the door from her grip and shutting it again. When she turned around again, Chris had gotten to his feet and he and Shawn were staring at anything but each other. She sighed and walked over to Shawn to try and check on him.

"How bad is it?" she asked him, reaching up to examine his neck.

"It's fine." He said, pulling away from her. She stood there for a moment, and looked at him. The altercation was not lost on Chris, who cheered a little inside at the knowledge that everything was not like paradise for the two of them. Stephanie sighed an irritated sigh.

"Well I'm _sorry_ for being concerned." She said to his back. Shawn turned to her.

"Sorry for being concerned?" he asked. "This was _your_ fault!" he said, pointing to the wound on his neck. Stephanie raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. Chris knew this look well. This look was the look of an irritated Stephanie that was about to turn into a very pissed-off Stephanie.

"_My_ fault?" she asked him in disbelief. "Hmm, well if I remember right, _**you**_ were the one who was asking Mark to shoot you!" Shawn nodded.

"Yeah, that's right! I did! Because I 'm tired of sticking my neck out and bending over backwards to keep _you_ safe!" Shawn nearly screamed at her. He took a deep breath to try and regain his composure. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you or Ash, Stephanie, but I just don't think that I can do this today." He said, softly, looking at her. Chris felt himself wanting to puke. Stephanie's glare started to dissipate. Shawn took her hands in his.

"I don't want to lose you two the way I lost my son." Shawn whispered. Chris chuckled as he leaned back against the wall to sit down. Shawn turned to him.

"Is there something funny about Cameron's death to you…_Chris_?" Shawn demanded, his voice laced with poison when saying Chris's name. Chris smiled and looked up at the two of them. Stephanie had a warning look on her face.

"Oh no, it's not that. I just can't believe that you're actually falling for this kind of shit, Steph. I thought that you were smarter than that." Chris said. "Or did your little love affair cause your brain to loosen up, too?" Stephanie's look of wrath returned and she turned to direct it towards Chris.

"Oh, what are you, Chris? Three years old?" Shawn shot back at him.

"Apparently," Chris said. "But I'd much rather be acting like a three-year-old than a forty-something-year-old adulterer!" he shouted, standing up. Shawn took a step towards him.

"You son of a bitch!" he threatened.

"Why don't you ask him, Stephanie?" Chris shouted. "Why don't you ask him what he's _really_ doing for those conferences you send him away on?" He stopped for a moment. "Or perhaps the correct question would be 'who'?" Stephanie's look changed once again, and she turned to face Shawn. He turned to look at her.

"Oh you can't tell me that you seriously believe him?" Shawn asked her. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"I don't know Shawn, should I?" She asked right as the door opened again. Snitsky and Kennedy both walked in this time. Kennedy walked over towards Chris as Snitsky grabbed Stephanie by the arm.

"Hey, where are you taking her?" Shawn demanded, taking a step towards him. Snitsky smiled his hideous smile.

"Randy wants to talk to her." He said. Shawn grimaced at Snitsky's teeth and then spoke again.

"Well, she doesn't go anywhere without me." Shawn said.

"Now, that's a first," Chris chimed in.

"You shut the fuck up!" Shawn shouted, pointed a finger at him.

"How about you both shut the fuck up?" Kennedy shouted above both of them. "She's coming with us and you're both staying here. You try to do anything stupid, and we kill Ash, got it?" he said.

"You wouldn't kill him." Shawn said. "If you wanted to kill him, you would have done it earlier."

"You think I'm bluffing, old man?" Kennedy asked.

"Shawn," Chris said in a warning tone. He was damned if he was going to let the man who had stolen his wife decided the fate of his son.

"Yeah, actually, I do think you're bluffing, Kennedy." Shawn said.

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Stephanie asked him, her voice revealing an obvious fear for the safety of her son. Shawn turned to her.

"I'm calling their bluff, Stephanie." He said, looking at both Snitsky and Kennedy. "Ash was in the same room as I was earlier today, and they didn't kill him there-" Shawn was cut off abruptly by a jaw-breaking slap.

"When the 'bluff' you're calling involves _my_ son, Shawn, don't call it." Stephanie warned him. She turned to Snitsky. "I'll come with you quietly if I can see my son for a few minutes." She said. Snitsky looked questioningly at Kennedy, who nodded.

"Fine." Snitsky said, grabbing her by the arm and leading her out. Kennedy looked at Chris and Shawn before he closed the door.

"Have fun in here girls." He said.

**4:34** Stephanie allowed herself to be led down the same hallways that Chris had been nearly an hour before. On the outside, she appeared to be cool, calm and collected – a by-product of being in one too many hostage situations, she supposed. On the inside, she was a bundle of nerves and emotions. What the hell was wrong with her? She and Shawn seemed to be at each other's throats ever since this whole ordeal had started, and it only seemed to be getting worse.

_It was never that way with Chris_. She thought.

Inwardly, she groaned. Her emotions were conflicted enough without having to think about that, too. More and more as this day went on, she was beginning to wonder about what her exact feelings were for Shawn. Was she really in love with him? Had Chris just blowing smoke up her ass to get under her skin with his remark about the conferences? There were too many questions and not enough answers, she thought.

Once they reached the large room, Snitsky led her over to the far left wall and went through one last door. Inside, she saw Ash, sitting at a table, staring at some paper and crayons. When the door opened, he looked up and ran over to her.

"Momma!" he yelled. Stephanie smiled.

"Hey there big guy." She said, wrapping him in a hug. She looked around the room, and saw Paul and Randy sitting a few feet away from the table.

"Stephanie." Randy said warmly. "Come on in. We have a lot to discuss." Stephanie looked at him with complete distrust. Nonetheless, she picked Ash up and walked into the room, and sat down in the chair that Ash had been sitting in himself a moment before. Randy smiled.

"So, no doubt, you are wondering exactly what this is all about." Randy began.

"You could say that." Stephanie said, noticing a wall of security screens behind Paul and Randy, one of which was showing the room she was just in. Chris and Shawn appeared to be arguing.

"Well, let me just say that there are many different things that need to occur today for everyone to walk away happy." He said, pausing. He gestured to Paul. "Paul here, would like to make a purchase from you." Paul nodded slowly at this. "I have a score to even out with your ex-husband." Randy admitted and then took a moment to reflect on the thought of his revenge and smiled before continuing. "And our third associate would like to spend some time with your current love interest."

"Third associate?" Stephanie asked him.

"Don't get caught up in the details, Stephanie." Randy assured her. "This is what you need to know. If you sign over all of your ownership, stocks, everything that you have and own as part of WWE, over to Paul here," Randy said, pausing again while turning to look at her. "You and Ash can go free, no questions asked, no more hassles. We will leave you alone and you can take your son away from all of this mess." He said.

"You'll just….let me go?" Stephanie asked him. "Just like that?"

"Well, maybe not _just_ like that. We'd need to hang on to you until at least the end of the day and then have assurances that you would never speak about all of this to anyone, but other than that…" he stopped and looked at Paul again. Paul picked up for him.

"Other than that, Stephanie, you would both be left alone for the rest of your lives." He finished. Stephanie looked at both of them and then looked down at her son. She knew that the deal was too good to be true, but at this point, she was almost willing to _give_ that damn company away, seeing as all the trouble that she had had with it since she had become its owner. Even if this whole ordeal was just some false hope, she still believed that she would much happier without it.

"What will happen to Chris and Shawn?" she asked, looking at the two of them on the screen. Their argument from earlier appeared to have exploded into an all-out brawl.

"We'll be taking care of them shortly." Randy said.

"You didn't answer my question." She said. He smiled.

"Well, they'll have their own deals to make. I can't speak for Shawn, but I know that Chris will be pleased with his options." Randy said, being more cryptic than usual. Stephanie looked at both of them again and sighed.

"If I sign this contract, I want you both to answer a question for me." Stephanie said. Paul and Randy looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to her.

"Depends on what the question is." Randy answered.

"If all you want is what you just said, why did you blow up the WWE headquarters building earlier today?" She asked. Randy and Paul turned to each other once again and exchanged quizzical looks.

"That wasn't us." Randy said.

"That wasn't even your mysterious 'third associate'?" She asked. Randy and Paul both shook their heads.

"If it was him, he didn't run the idea by us." Paul said. Randy nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like the right hand isn't talking to the left hand, then." Stephanie said. "I'd like to think about your offer for a little while before making my final decision." Randy nodded.

"That's fine. We still need to talk to Shawn and Chris about their proposals as well." He stood up. "You're going to have to go back now. Ash will have to stay with us for the time being." Stephanie paused for a moment, debating whether or not to argue the point, and then she figured that if Paul wanted the company enough to help orchestrate this whole mess, he wouldn't to let the deal go sour by hurting her son. She turned her attention to Ash.

"Honey, I need you to be a big, brave boy and stay with these men for just a little while longer, okay? Do you think you can do that?" She asked him. She hated to do this, but she wanted to talk to both Chris and Shawn before trying to make a decision that would affect all three of them. Ash nodded slowly.

"I can do it, Momma." He said. Stephanie had to smile to try and keep herself from crying.

"That's a good boy." She said, standing up. Snitsky was waiting to take her back.

"We'll need to have a decision by 7PM, Stephanie. After that, we'll all be moving our separate directions." Randy told her. She nodded.

"I'll have an answer for you by then." Randy nodded, and Snitsky grabbed her arm to take her back to their holding room.

**4:****49** Kurt Angle was sitting in his car, hidden from both the view of the road and from any of the three windows that he could see on the warehouse that he had seen Stephanie, Shawn, and Ash enter. He wasn't sure what was going down inside there, but he knew that he was going to have to find a way inside.

**4:****50** When Stephanie entered the room, she realized that it was just Chris inside the room, Shawn was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Shawn?" she asked him. He looked up at her from his position of sitting on the floor, a new bruise forming along his cheekbone. He shrugged.

"Kennedy came in here and took him not long after we started expressing our true feelings for each other." Chris said. Stephanie put her hands on her hips and stared down at him.

"You mean beating the shit out of each other." She said. Chris smiled.

"Why Stephanie, you are still able to read through my cryptic messages." He said. "Tell me, what am I thinking now?" He asked her as she sat down across from him.

"Stop it, Chris. We need to talk about something, and we need to do it quickly." She said. Chris looked at her.

"Ok, talk." He said.

"They took me to see Paul and Randy. All they want from me is to sign over the company-"

"Good lord that company is a black hole for problems." Chris said.

"Chris!" Stephanie yelled, irritated that he was interrupting her.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"They want me to sign over the company, all of my ownership, and then they will let Ash and I go. The only obvious stipulation being that I say nothing about the whole thing to anyone of legal importance. Other than that, they have promised to leave us alone." She said. Chris nodded.

"Sounds like an awesome deal." He said, coughing.

"_Too_ awesome for my liking." She said. He nodded again.

"I agree."

"There's more to this, Chris. You and Shawn don't get to go free simply because I sign this thing. Randy wants revenge on you, and Shawn is supposed to be handed off to some 'third associate' of theirs that I haven't seen yet." She said, pausing. "I'm not leaving without either of you." Chris had been paying attention to her recollection of the events, but hadn't been looking at her until the very end.

"Stephanie, you can't let Shawn and I hold you back from this deal." Chris started.

"Chris, they are going to kill you! Both of you!" She shouted at him.

"I know they are Stephanie!" He shouted back. "Nothing you say or do is going to change that, the only thing that you're going to accomplish by not signing that contract is ensuring that you and Ash get hurt before they finally take what they want. They're not going to be so nice later on. You know that." He reached out and took her hand in his. "You need to do what is best for Ash right now, Stephanie." The tears that she had been holding in since seeing Ash and Chris again finally started to flow.

"Don't cry, Stephanie." He said.

**4:57**"I can't help it, Chris. I can't help thinking of how horrible I've been to you. How absolutely _horrible_ I've been, and here you are, willing to sacrifice yourself for me and our son. How I ruined one of the greatest things in my life with one stupid mistake." She said, sobbing. Chris sat across from her, torn as to what to do. He had spent the past year or so of his life _hating_ this woman for putting him through the misery that he was suffering through, only to finally realize that she had been suffering just as much as he had. He wasn't prepared to hear this.

Without taking another minute to think about it, Chris leaned forward and wrapped Stephanie in his arms, and she began to sob into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." She sobbed. He put a hand behind her head and another around her back, pulling her closer as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were fresh with tears that he refused to let fall. They sat there like that in silence for a moment, neither one saying a word.

**5:00**


	9. 5:00 to 6:00 PM

**A/N: To everyone who is still reading this, THANK YOU! I apologize for making you wait so long for this. Hopefully it lives up to your expectations. **

**5:00-6:00PM**

**5:00** Shawn felt numb as he watched Chris and Stephanie embrace on the screen in front of him. The last time that those two had been together, Chris had upset Stephanie so badly that he had to take her out of the room. Now, it looked like they might actually be trying to patch things up. He set his jaw and continued to watch as Chris pulled away from her a little, letting her calm down.

"That doesn't look good." Randy Orton commented, walking up behind him. Shawn glared at the screen for a few more seconds and then turned his attention to the younger man.

"No, Randy, it doesn't." He said coldly. "Maybe _this_ could have been avoided if you would have warned me that _**I**_ was part of your little deal too." Randy looked at him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Shawn." He said, feigning innocence. Shawn narrowed his eyes at him.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about." Shawn growled at him. "The deal was for me to help you get rid of Irvine. Kidnapping me and _shooting_ me wasn't part of the plan." Randy nodded his understanding.

"Well, Shawn, you know as well as I that things never go quite according to plan." He said. "I can't help it if the man who actually _financed_ my release from prison wanted a little return on his investment." Shawn shook his head.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Shawn asked him. "You keep talking about him, yet you never mention his name. Why all the secrecy?" Randy shrugged.

"His wishes, what can I say?" Randy told him. "Look, Shawn, he told me that he just wants to meet with you."

"Are you sure that he hasn't already?" Shawn asked him. Randy gave him a look and he continued. "When I was taken after the WWE building exploded, I expected it to be you. I was held in a room for hours with a man who never revealed his face. From what I understand, the WWE building wasn't part of your plan. How do you know that this guy isn't just playing you?"

"Why would he give up 10 million dollars just to kill me, Shawn?" Randy asked him. "If he wanted me dead, he could have just left me in that prison to rot."

"Maybe the 10 million dollars was worth it if you brought me to him." Shawn said to him, before turning back to the screen. Kennedy walked into the room at that moment.

"Randy, we need your help with Ash – he's crying for Stephanie again." He said. Randy sighed.

"Let me go to him." Shawn said. Randy shook his head.

"Absolutely not." He said. "If anyone else figures out your working with us, then you could blow this whole operation." He turned back to Kennedy. "Take Shawn back to the holding room with Chris and Stephanie." He paused. "And take Ash back there with him. I think that it's time to see this whole dysfunctional family situation play out." Kennedy nodded and walked over to Shawn, cuffing his hands behind his back and leading him out of the room.

**5:09** "I think you need to go through with their deal, Stephanie." Chris said to her. "And I think that Shawn will agree. You need to get Ash out of here. And when they let you go, I think you need to disappear – lay low for a while." Stephanie nodded slowly, avoiding his gaze.

"What?" Chris asked her. "What's wrong?" Stephanie sighed.

"I just wish that there was a way we could all make it out of this." She said, as the door to their room opened. Ash came running into the room, followed by Shawn as soon as his handcuffs were taken off. Kennedy took one look at the occupants in the room and gave a brief smile before closing and locking the door.

Chris looked over at Shawn, who had moved closer to Stephanie. He watched as Stephanie held Ash and Shawn started to squat down to wrap a protective arm around them. He felt a wave of anger surge through him as he continued to look at them. That was _his_ son. _His_ wife…ex-wife. Why did Shawn get a second chance at a family when he was left with nothing? Why was _his _family the one that he had to take?

God, he wished that this whole situation would just fix itself. He missed his son, he missed his family - he missed his _life_. The last few years of which had felt more like a nightmare than the actual thing. He leaned back against the wall that he was standing in front of and started to sink into a sitting position. He wouldn't let himself go through this again. Not here. Not now. He would keep his emotions in check, at least for Ash's sake.

_He pushed the door open in a numb state, almost praying that he wasn't about to witness what he thought he was. He stood there in the open doorway; his entire chest feeling like a huge weight had been placed on it. He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there before he finally dropped his suitcase on the floor, announcing his presence, but once that suitcase hit the ground, his life had changed. He saw them jump apart and turn towards him. The look on Stephanie's face was one of horror and guilt. The look on Shawn's was mere surprise. He could feel his whole body trembling with rage._

"Daddy?" Ash asked him. Chris snapped out of his flashback and focused his attention on his son.

"What's up kiddo?" He asked him, smiling.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked. Chris glanced over at Shawn and Stephanie, who had since started talking about something. He looked back at his son.

"Why do you ask?" Chris asked him. Ash shrugged.

"You just looked sad." He told him. Chris studied his son's face for a second, before inviting him to sit in his lap. Ash crawled up and rested his head on his father's chest. Chris looked down at him and talked quietly into his ear.

"I looked sad because I just realized how much time we've lost, bud." He told him. Ash looked back up at him and they sat there for a moment.

"Daddy?" Ash asked him.

"Yes?" Chris answered.

"Why aren't you at home anymore?" He asked. Chris kept his son's gaze for a moment before looking away. "How come I don't get to see you?" Chris got a pained look on his face and closed his eyes to keep them from revealing too much. He took a deep breath and looked back at his son.

"Because Mommy and I…" He started and trailed off, looking over at Shawn and Stephanie once again. "We…we just weren't getting along."

"Oh." Ash said. "Can you start to get along again so you can come home?" He asked. Chris smirked.

"I'd like that." Chris said. "But I don't really know, Ash." Ash's hopeful look turned into a sad one.

"But I miss you, Daddy." He said, pouting. Chris wrapped his arms around him.

"I know, I miss you too, bud." Chris whispered to him. "I miss you so much it hurts."

"It hurts?" Ash asked him, curious. "Where?" Chris smiled and pointed to his heart.

"Right here." He said. "It hurts anytime I'm away from you." Ash's eyes widened a little at that.

"It must hurt a lot." He commented. Chris smiled a half-hearted smile.

"It does." He admitted, looking over at Stephanie who, to his surprise, was looking back at him. He looked away quickly.

Stephanie looked away from Chris and Ash back to Shawn. His gaze had followed hers and he knew what she had been looking at. He gave her a questioning look.

"Are you all right?" He asked her. She nodded. "Because if I didn't know better, I would almost say that was a look of longing that you just shot in his direction." He said quietly. Stephanie shot him a fiery look.

"I don't know what difference that would make to you, if what he said earlier was true." She said to him. Shawn gave her a look.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

"The conferences." She said to him. He leveled his gaze with her and she stared him blankly in the face. "If you're cheating on me, Shawn, I think I have the right to know."

"You're willing to take your _ex-husband's_ word over your fiancée's? Are you serious?" Shawn asked her.

"Would you just answer the question?" Stephanie asked.

"Why? Obviously you've already made up your mind about who's right." Shawn said to her.

"Well, so far you haven't really given me any reason to think any differently." Stephanie told him. Shawn threw his hands up in the air.

"What else can I tell you, other than I haven't cheated on you?" Shawn said to her, his voice rising.

Ash sighed and turned more to face Chris's chest. Chris turned his gaze from his son up to Shawn and Stephanie again. They looked like they were arguing over something, based solely on the look on Stephanie's face. He knew that look well – he'd seen it enough in the last few years that he didn't need to think twice about its meaning.

"I wish that _he_ would move out, since he and Mommy never get along anymore." Ash mumbled. Chris switched his gaze back to his son.

"They do this a lot?" He asked. Ash nodded.

"All the time. I hear them when I go to sleep." Ash said. Chris nodded and leaned his head back against the wall.

"Shawn, I'm not saying that I believe him more than you, but I can tell that you're not being entirely truthful with me." She said to him. Shawn shook his head angrily.

"This is ridiculous." He said to her. "I've already answered your question, and that wasn't good enough for you. What? Do you want me to take a lie detector test now, too?" He asked her. Chris closed his eyes as he listened to them. Something was going to give here pretty soon.

"Maybe you should!" Stephanie started to shout at him. "I mean, it's not like you haven't done something like this before!"

"Oh, _here_ it is!" Shawn said sarcastically. "Yes, let's just blame **me** for you and Chris breaking up. Well, if I remember correctly, you were _more_ than willing to spread your legs for me, so you're just as much to blame as I am, honey." Stephanie's face turned into a look of anger and outrage. She made like she was going to slap him, but he caught her arm. She gave him a warning look.

"Let _go_ of me." She said to him through gritted teeth. Shawn kept his gaze fixed on her. Out of nowhere for the two of them, Chris was standing next to them.

"I think that it's time to cut this out." Chris said. "Ash is no more than six feet from both of you." He said, before turning to Shawn. "And I'd hate to have to kick your ass in front of him." Shawn moved his gaze from Stephanie's face to Chris's.

"Since when do you know what is okay for Ash to see and not see?" Shawn asked him. "When was the last time you were ever really involved in his life?" Chris's eyes narrowed at him. "I mean, let's face it, even when you two were married, _I_ was more of a father to him than you were. I was there for him more than you were. I was always around for him when he cried out for his Daddy. How often were you there?" Shawn asked.

"Well the only reason _you_ were there so much is because you were so eager to jump in the sack with _my_ _wife!_" Chris hissed at him.

"Only because you couldn't please her." Shawn said. Stephanie stepped in between Chris and Shawn.

"Stop it." She said to them. "Both of you. Chris is right; we need to cut this out, for Ash's sake." Shawn kept his gaze with Chris.

"You failed at a lot of things, didn't you Chris?" He asked him. "You failed as a husband, you failed as a father, and you failed as a friend. Hell, you even failed at _killing yourself_." He said. Stephanie turned to look at Chris in shock. Chris began to tremble with rage. "What, Steph? You didn't hear about this?" Shawn asked, continuing. "He was so distraught over us, he planned on killing himself. But he couldn't finish that, either." Stephanie kept looking at Chris.

"Is that true, Chris?" She asked him, but she didn't need to. She could tell from the look on his face that what Shawn was saying was the truth. Chris clenched his fists and set his jaw.

"Yes." He said, never once looking at her. "You know something, Shawn? I would much rather fail at the things that I've failed at than spend one single, solitary second as you. You are a miserable human being, and a worthless waste of oxygen. You've thrown away every single person in your life who mattered to you, and you did it all with a smile on your face. And you know something else?" Chris asked him. "I hope that you _rot in hell_ for what you've done. Maybe you can say hello to _your_ wife while you're there." He finished, right as Shawn's fist connected with his temple. Chris tumbled backwards as Stephanie started to shout and try to get in between them.

Shawn shoved Stephanie out of the way as he stormed over to Chris, pulling him back up by the collar of his shirt. Chris head-butted him and then landed a right hook on him. Shawn brought his knee up into Chris's gut and shoved him away. Chris fell to his knees and gasped in air. Stephanie had pulled Ash to her and they were standing in the corner farthest from them. She knew that trying to stop the two of them would be fruitless, but she felt compelled to keep trying.

"Stay right here in this corner." Stephanie said to him before standing in between Shawn and Chris once again, trying to get them to stop. Chris was trying to pass around her, but Steph placed her hands on his chest to try and keep him from making things worse.

"Chris, stop this." She said to him.

"Get out of my way, Stephanie." He said to her as Shawn wiped some blood off of his lip.

"Chris, please." She reasoned with him. He didn't say anything. "Chris…your son is watching you." She pleaded. "_Our_ son is watching." With that sentence, he finally looked at her. He kept her gaze for a second before looking back at Shawn, who was lunging at him. Chris shoved Stephanie out of the way and took the spear, smacking his head against the concrete wall as he fell.

"Somebody get in here!" Stephanie screamed, pounding on the door. Shawn started to mount Chris to lay more punches in him when Kennedy came in to pull him off. Snitsky kept Stephanie and Ash to the corner as Kennedy dragged Shawn from the room. As the door slammed shut once more, Stephanie ran over to Chris.

**5:36** "God, Chris, are you okay?" She asked him, kneeling next to him, Ash hot on her heels.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said, waving her off.

"Look at me." She said to him.

"Steph…" He said.

"Look at me, Chris." She told him sternly. He turned to her and opened his eyes. It took him a second to focus on her and he couldn't see her clearly. He closed his eyes and winced at the dull headache that started to seep through his skull.

"You probably have a concussion." She said to him.

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Ash asked him. Chris nodded, opening his eyes for a second to reassure his son.

"Daddy's fine, champ. He's just got a little bit of a headache." He told him. Stephanie turned to Ash.

"Honey, will you go and sit on the other side of the room so that Mommy and Daddy can talk about some grown-up things?" She asked him. Ash took a moment before finally nodding and walking away from them.

"I'm so sorry, Chris. I've never seen him like this before." She admitted. "Today's been a first for a lot of things with us."

"Well the arguing doesn't seem so new." Chris said to her. "Ash said he hears you two going at it pretty often." Stephanie nodded.

"It's been kind of up and down lately." She said to him.

"Yeah, well, this is a helluva down." Chris commented. She snorted humorlessly and then sat there in silence for a second.

"Why didn't you say anything, Chris?" she asked him quietly. He opened his eyes again to try and look at her.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

"About how you were feeling about this whole thing." She said to him. "Jesus, Chris, if I'd have known that you were thinking about taking your own life –"

"You'd have done what?" Chris asked her rather bitterly. She sat there and looked away from him, shameful. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and willed the room to stop spinning.

"I would have tried to reach out to you. You were always so closed off when we talked…" She said to him.

"We were going through a _divorce_, Stephanie. Reaching out to the person that you're trying to leave really presents an oxymoron." He said to her. She sat there with him for a moment.

"What stopped you?" She asked him. He looked up at her for a second before putting his face in his hands.

"I really don't want to talk about this, Stephanie." He said to her. She studied him for another moment before finally nodding as he raised his head to look at her.

"Okay. We won't talk about it." She said.

"Daddy?" Ash asked him, walking back over. Chris turned to his son. "You're bleeding." Ash said, pointing to Chris's head. Chris wrinkled his brow as Stephanie made him turn his head so she could see.

"You _were_ bleeding…but this looks dry." She looked at the wound for a second before he started to raise his head.

"That's from earlier." He said.

"Earlier?" She asked him.

"Kennedy and Snitsky had a nice long talk with me." Chris said, shrugging. "It's nothing serious." Stephanie gave him a look that clearly said that she didn't believe him, but she didn't push the issue. She was content to just let everyone's nerves calm down once again.

**5:47** "So when is this guy supposed to get here?" Paul Heyman was asking Randy as they walked down the hallway.

"Cody and Ted just called in – he'll be here within the next fifteen minutes or so." Randy said. Paul nodded.

"I just hope that we're done with all of the surprises today." Paul said. "I don't like finding things out second hand." Randy nodded.

"I agree." He said, stopping for a second to look at a vent in the wall where he thought he'd heard something. He waited for the sound to happen again, and when it didn't, he moved on.

From his position in the vent, Kurt let out a breath. He thought that Randy had spotted him for sure. This vent wasn't really designed for a grown man to crawl through. He had a good view of the largest room in the warehouse from where he was, and he figured that eventually Stephanie, Shawn, and Ash would have to be brought back through here, since this was the only room with a door to the outside.

He saw Shawn being dragged into the center of the room, from the left corner of the vent. It looked like Snitsky was the one pulling him into the room, dropping him in front of Paul and Randy. Shawn shot up to his feet.

"What the _fuck_ were you thinking?" Shawn shouted at them, Randy in particular. "You knew that this would happen!"

"As did you." Randy said. "You knew that when I sent you all into that room that something was going to happen if you didn't keep your temper in check. Although I will admit, I had expected Chris to throw the first punch, but with his son in the room, I guess he was trying to take the higher road." Kurt's jaw dropped at the sound that Chris was here as well. This situation was stickier than he originally thought.

"Damn it, Randy!" Shawn shouted. "My deal is no good to me if Stephanie winds up _leaving_ me!" Kurt's brow wrinkled as he continued to listen. What deal was Shawn talking about?

"Well that's not _my_ problem, now is it?" Randy asked him. "You're the one who went flying off the handle a few minutes ago. You were the one who told your fiancée that the reason she broke with her ex-husband was because she was easy. Sounds like you're fucking your own plan up, Shawn." Randy said to him, as his cell phone started to ring.

"Yes?" He answered. "Excellent. We'll be waiting for you." He said, snapping the phone shut. He turned to Paul. "He's here." Paul walked over to the door on the opposite side of the room and pulled it open. Kurt was able to see three people walk into the room, but because the sun was behind them, he wasn't able to see their faces. Paul shoved the door shut again as the three men walked farther into the room.

Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase distanced themselves from the third man as soon as they walked into the room. They started heading over towards where Shawn and Snitsky were standing. The third man was well disguised, so it was close to impossible to determine who it was. Shawn had a hunch that it was the same man who had captured him earlier in the day, promising to expose him. Something about that statement had put Shawn on edge. Shawn had never exactly been a model citizen or, hell, even a model person, but he had to admit that he was a little worried about what this man wanted to reveal. He and Stephanie had been on shaky ground ever since this whole thing had started, and he had the feeling that if the wrong thing was brought to her attention, he was going to lose her.

**5:53** Randy walked up to the man and extended his hand.

"I'm so glad you made it." Randy said to him.

"Why? Is there another mess that you need me to clean up for you?" The man asked him. Randy seemed a tad ruffled at that comment, but he didn't flinch.

"Of course not." Randy reassured him. "I just wanted to show you that I held up my end of the bargain." He said, gesturing to Shawn.

"Where's Mark?" The man asked, barely even looking at Shawn.

"He's back in the med wing." Snitsky piped up. The man looked over at Snitsky and then back to Randy.

"Is he injured?" He asked.

"Mark?" Randy asked, getting confused.

"No." He said. "Shawn. Is Shawn injured?" He asked. Randy shook his head. "Then why does he have a bandage on his neck?"

"Oh, Mark said that he was being difficult. He grazed him." Randy said. "Look, can we just do this deal and move on? I have a few other things to take care of yet today." The man took off his gloves and put them in his pocket.

"Thanks for the offer, Randy, but I think I'd like to stick around and see how things are really holding up on your end." He said, walking over to Shawn. He stood in front of him for a few seconds, smiling as the confusion continued to line Shawn's features.

"I have to admit, Randy, you're very good at what you promise." He said, not looking away from Shawn. "But I'm afraid I must confess something to you. Had I not taken it upon myself to kidnap Shawn right after I destroyed the WWE building, then you would not have him to present to me right now."

"I would, actually." Randy said to him. The man turned to him, amused.

"Oh?"

"Yes, Shawn and I made a deal to get rid of Chris Irvine. He was supposed to meet me here if he wanted to see his fiancée again." Randy said. The man nodded.

"The old double-cross." He said appreciatively. "I find that fitting for Shawn." He said, turning back to Shawn.

"Don't you?" He asked Shawn. Shawn remained silent. "What, Shawn?" The man asked him. "Don't you know who I am?"

**5:58** The man took off his large trench coat and sunglasses and the hat that he had been wearing when he entered. His back was to Kurt, which made it impossible for him to figure out who it was, but judging by the look on Shawn's face, _he_ knew this man well.

Shawn had a look of absolute confusion and horror at the face standing right across from him. It was almost as if he was seeing a ghost. He knew instantly that the deal that he had made with Randy was destined to fail to begin with. He was never going to be left alone with Stephanie and Ash. Chris would die, and he would die right along with him.

Because the man standing across from him wasn't just some thug who wanted to talk to him.

The man standing across from him wanted to kill him. It had been his dying words.

The man standing across from him had promised vengeance and it looked like today was the day for that.

"Remember me now, Shawn?" He asked, smiling. Shawn remembered all right. How could he forget?

The man standing across from him was none other than Bret Hart.

**6:00**


	10. 6:00 to 7:00 PM

**A/N: Wow! First off, thank you so so much, DCFanatic4life and TakerTakeMe! Your reviews made my day! I was worried that no one else was still reading this story. Thank you for still reading and taking the time out to let me know! Secondly, this chapter would have been posted sooner, but I was having login issues so it had to wait until now. Thanks for the patience - hopefully I'm back in it for the long haul this time! So now, without further ado, I present the next chapter of Gone...**

**6:00-7:00PM**

**6:00** Bret smiled with satisfaction at the reaction on Shawn's face. He wanted Shawn to know that there was nowhere to go this time – no Vince McMahon to hide behind, no fans to tell him that he was in the right. But more than that, he wanted Shawn to know that _he_ was in complete control of this situation and he wanted Shawn to pay for everything he had ever done to him, not just Survivor Series '97. Bret turned back to Randy.

"Excellent work, Randy." He said to him. Randy nodded. Without warning, Bret pulled a gun out of his coat and turned to shoot Snitsky.

"Hey!" Randy shouted as Snitsky fell to the ground with a bullet hole in his head. "What do you think you're doing?!" He screamed. Bret ignored him and turned the opposite direction, shooting Paul Heyman in the back as he was running from the room. Randy looked at Bret, appalled.

"What in the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Randy asked him through gritted teeth. "Those two were _my_ men. I _need_ them!" Bret shook his head at him as he holstered his gun.

"No you don't." He said calmly. "Those two were lying to you. I have it on good authority that they were leaking information to someone on the outside. They were making plans to have us all arrested." Randy took a step back, looking back over to Paul's body.

"You don't seem as surprised as I thought you might be." Bret commented. Randy looked at him again.

"When you're working with a bunch of people who already have a reputation for screwing people over, it's not very surprising to find out that they were planning to do the same to you." He said.

"You two." Bret said, pointing at Ted and Cody. "You better make sure you're on the right side, because if I hear even a _whisper_ that something is wrong, I'll kill both of you without so much as a second thought, just like I did to these two." He said. Ted and Cody nodded slowly. "Now, get these bodies out of here and put them somewhere where they're not going to be discovered easily." Ted and Cody each walked over to get Snitsky and Heyman and drag them from the room. Bret turned back to Randy. "We need to get moving."

"What are you talking about? I haven't even started on Irvine yet!" Randy yelled.

"If you don't listen to what I'm telling you, you won't get the chance to." Bret said. "Paul and Gene were working against you. The police know the location of this building and they are ready to raid this place by seven. So, if you want even a snowball's chance in hell of keeping your freedom and getting your revenge, I think it's time you start listening to me." Bret turned back to Shawn for a second, who hadn't moved since the whole situation had begun.

"What was Stephanie's role in all of this?" Bret asked Randy, not taking his eyes off of Shawn. Shawn looked at him.

"Paul wanted the company. We made her a deal to let Ash and her go if she signed the company over to us." Randy explained. Bret nodded.

"That deal is off." He said. "I think we need to make that clear to her." He turned to Randy. "I'm sorry Randy, but even though you brought Shawn to me, you're a little bit sloppy for my taste. Besides that, I can't just _let_ her go." He said, looking at Shawn. "She's far too valuable for that." Randy had to bite his tongue to keep from making a remark. This man had been here barely fifteen minutes and he had already killed two of his people _and_ undermined his plan for revenge.

"You're a son of a bitch, you know that, Bret?" Shawn asked him. Bret smiled.

"Not half as much as you are." Bret said. "Now, where's Stephanie?" He asked.

**6:09** Kurt watched as all of the men exited the room, with Shawn in between Randy and Bret. He focused solely on getting the grate off - his mind was too jumbled to think of much else. When he couldn't find a way to loosen it, he kicked the thing out of his way, hoping that no one else was close enough to hear it. He crawled out of the vent and put the grate back on halfway, before turning to find his way out of the main room.

What the hell was Shawn thinking, making a deal with Randy to get rid of Chris? Did Stephanie know anything about this? It was obvious that she was the reason for the deceit. Kurt started to sneak his way through different hallways, peeking in doors to try and find Chris and Stephanie and warn them about the mess that they were in, all the while wondering what the hell he was doing. He wasn't trained for anything like this – hell he didn't even have an escape plan, he just knew that he had to get his friends out of here.

**6:14** Chris was sitting with his head in his hands, simply waiting for the time to pass. He had nothing else to do. Stephanie and Ash had just been taken away by Kennedy, no doubt to talk to Randy about their deal – which he hoped that she was going to accept for their son's sake.

When the door opened and closed again, Chris didn't even raise his head, but when someone started shaking his shoulders, he looked up into the very flushed face of Kurt Angle. Chris did a double take.

"_Kurt_?" Chris asked him incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's a long story. Look, I'm here to get you out of here. Where's Stephanie?" Kurt asked him. Chris shrugged.

"They just took her somewhere." He said. "Kurt, how the hell did you find us?"

"I followed Ash and Randy." He told him, helping Chris to his feet.

"You've been here that long?" Chris asked him, shaking his head. "You're insane, you know that?" He smiled.

"Not half as insane as Shawn." Kurt said. Chris wrinkled his brow at him as his smiled faded.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked. Kurt looked timid for a moment, wondering if he should say anything to Chris about this. He'd meant to mention it to Stephanie before anyone else, but sometimes his mouth had a mind of its own.

"Shawn's been involved in what's going on today." He said. "He planned with Randy to have you killed." Kurt said. Chris's face was unreadable to Kurt at the moment, and he was glad for it. He didn't quite know how to handle the situation, since he knew that there was already bad blood between Shawn and Chris because of Stephanie. He didn't want to be the reason that it escalated.

"Should have punched that son of a bitch in the face when I had him here." Chris mumbled to himself. He turned to look at Kurt again. "Kurt, I need you to do me a favor."

"Sure, Chris, anything." He said.

"I need you to find Stephanie and Ash and get them the hell out of here." Chris said. "I think that they're going to talk to Randy to put the finishing touches on her deal with Heyman and be released." He said. He looked at Kurt's face and could tell that something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked him.

"Um, I don't think that they're going to be making a deal." Kurt said.

"And why not?" Chris asked him.

"Because Heyman's dead. And Bret doesn't want to let her go. He wants to use her for leverage against Shawn." Kurt said. Chris looked like he had gotten the wind knocked out of him.

"Bret?" Chris asked him quietly. "Bret _Hart_? Bret Hart is _here_?!" He asked Kurt. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, apparently he's the one who wants Shawn for some reason or another." He said. Chris shook his head.

"It's not possible." Chris said.

"Why not?" Kurt asked him.

"Because Bret Hart is dead!" Chris nearly shouted. "I went to the man's funeral! Jesus Christ…." He trailed off. He looked Kurt dead in the eyes.

"Are you sure that you saw what you saw?" He asked him. Kurt nodded.

"I'm positive, Chris." Chris nodded slowly.

"Okay." He said. "I need you to get Stephanie and Ash out of here."

"But, Chris-"

"No buts, Kurt!" Chris interrupted him. "I need you to get her out of here. There's no telling what Bret will do to her if he knows that she and Shawn are together. Not to mention the fact that she's Vince McMahon's daughter and we know how things ended with Bret and Vince." Kurt nodded.

"I don't care how you do it, Kurt, I want you to get them out of here." He told him.

"What about you?" Kurt asked, as he stood by the door.

"I'm gonna be your diversion." He said. "Now, go!" Kurt pulled the door open quickly and poked his head out before finally sneaking back out into the hallway. Chris immediately started looking around the room, trying to figure out a way to cause a scene and get them to come in the room just long enough for Kurt to get Ash and Stephanie out.

**6:23** "What the hell is he doing here?" Stephanie asked Randy as she stepped into the room. Bret Hart was already sitting down in the chair that had previously been occupied by Paul Heyman.

"He is my third associate." Randy said to her, as Bret stood up to walk over to them. He stopped in front of her and they simply stared at one another for a moment.

"You have your father's glare." He said to her calmly. "I was sorry to hear about what happened to him." Stephanie scoffed.

"I'm sure you were. Especially considering how close you were." She said to him sarcastically. Bret smirked.

"You sure love to screw those wrestlers, don't you Stephanie?" He asked her. "Especially Irvine. You can't keep away from him, and for some reason he continues to take you back. Hell, I bet that if you would ask him to take you back even now, he would because he's just that pathetic."

"What's your point, Bret?" She asked him.

"My point is that you'd better get comfortable, because you're not going anywhere." He said to her. "Your little deal here? It's _off_." He said. Stephanie turned to Randy who was avoiding her gaze, and then back to Bret.

"Who put you in charge?" She asked him.

"He did." Bret said, motioning to Randy. "The moment that he let me pay for his way out of prison. Young Randy here knows that he owes me more than he could ever hope to repay in a dozen lifetimes." He leaned in to Stephanie's face. "Which means that **I** am in charge, and I say that you're not going anywhere, and neither is your son."

At that moment, Kennedy started screaming for someone to come down and help him. Randy wrinkled his brow and opened the door to the room that they were currently in.

"What the hell is going on?" Randy shouted at him as Ted and Cody rushed past.

"Fucking Irvine!" Kennedy shouted at him. Clearly not enough to get a full picture of what was going on, but enough to know that Chris was causing problems. Randy turned back to Bret for a second and then flung the door open and started down the hallway.

"What's going on?" Stephanie shouted. "What's wrong with him?" Bret looked at her for a second before following Randy out, locking the door behind him to keep her from walking out. He walked briskly down the hallway to where Randy, Ted and Cody were now standing.

"What's the problem?" Bret asked them as Randy shoved Kennedy aside. Randy started performing CPR on Chris.

"There was a loud crash from inside the room and when I went in to check on him, he was dangling from the pipe in the ceiling." Kennedy said as Randy started to pound on Chris's chest.

"Damn it, Irvine, you don't get to go your way!" He screamed at him, pounding his fist on Chris's chest. After what felt like an eternity, Chris started to cough. Randy pulled him into a sitting position. Chris tried to push him away, but Randy held him in place.

"You listen to me you son of a bitch." Randy growled at him. "I have sacrificed too much to let you go without seeing you off _myself_." He paused, taking a deep breath. "Besides, the party's about to get started, you don't want to miss out on that, do you?" He asked him as Chris continued to cough. Randy slapped him on the back and then pointed to Ted.

"You stay in here with him. When he seems like he's done coughing, you tie his hands behind his back and bring Shawn in here with him." He ordered. Bret shook his head.

"Keep Shawn in his own room, we're going to be moving them all here in a moment." Bret said. "Just make sure that he's secure." He said. Ted looked back to Randy, who paused for a moment before finally nodding. Bret turned around and started to walk back down the hallway to Stephanie when he realized that the door that he had locked to keep Stephanie from following was now wide open. He set his jaw as he walked up to it. He walked into the room to find it completely empty and he knew instantly what had just happened.

He turned back around and walked back to the room with Chris. Randy was standing outside the door talking to Kennedy as Bret kicked it in. Ted backed away from Chris as Bret grabbed Chris by the throat and slammed him up against the nearest wall.

"Bret, what the fuck are you doing?" Randy screamed at him.

"Where is Stephanie?" Bret shouted at Chris. Randy looked to Chris, who had a smile growing on his face.

"Don't play games with me, Irvine." Bret warned. "Where is she?"

"Hello Bret." Chris said. Bret turned to Randy.

"Go and get Ash. Bring him to me." Randy turned and motioned for Kennedy to go and find him as Chris continued to smile.

"If your son is still in this building, Chris, there won't be much of a reason for you to still be smiling." Bret warned him.

"Lucky for both of us, he's not." Chris said to him. Kennedy returned to the room empty handed.

"He's right. They're both gone." Kennedy said and Chris's smile widened. Bret clenched Chris's throat tighter and slammed his head against the wall again. Chris's smile faded momentarily, but he regained it again when he focused on Bret once more.

"You can do that all you want, but that's not going to change the fact that they're gone." Chris said to him. Bret punched him square in the face and held him up as he stumbled.

"Maybe not." Bret said to him. "But I can make you tell me where they are and where they're going." Chris matched his gaze.

"I can't tell you what I don't know." Chris said to him simply.

"Somehow I highly doubt that." Bret said, before throwing him back to Ted. "Tie his hands behind his back as tight as you can get them. Get everything packed up, we're leaving in 10 minutes." He ordered before storming out of the room. Randy was left there standing in the doorway, staring at Chris with disbelief.

"You better hope to God that they got away from here." Randy said to him. "Because if he finds them before someone else does, he's going to kill them both and make you watch." Chris looked up at him for a moment and knew that he wasn't trying to bluff. Bret Hart was ruthless in his quest – always had been. Chris just hoped that Kurt had gotten his family as far away from here as he could.

**6:54** Kurt was holding on to both Ash and Stephanie's hands as they ran through the forest surrounding the warehouse. He paused for a moment to let them catch their breath.

"Do you think that they know we're missing yet?" Stephanie asked him. Kurt shrugged.

"If they don't they will soon." He said.

"How did you know where to find us?" She asked him.

"I was following you when you went to meet Shawn." He said, shrugging. Stephanie smiled and shook her head at him.

"You were worried about me." She marveled.

"You're my best friend, Stephanie. What else was I supposed to do?" He asked her. She laughed a little at that. "Stephanie, I need to tell you something, though." He said.

"What's that?" She asked him.

"Shawn…" He started. She looked at him.

"Is he okay?" She asked, concerned. Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, he's uh, he's fine." Kurt said. "Look Stephanie, Shawn…well…he was involved in what's happening." Stephanie gave him a look.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"Well, I only know what I heard between him and Randy from the vent." Kurt said, holding his hands up in defense.

"What do you know, Kurt?" She asked him.

"Well…" He said, suddenly unsure if he wanted to tell Stephanie about this.

"Kurt…" She warned.

"He made a deal with Randy to have Chris killed." Kurt blurted. "He wanted Chris out of your life so that he could have you to himself." Stephanie took a step back from him.

"No." She whispered.

"Yes, Stephanie, it's true." He said.

"No." She repeated. "You're lying." Kurt shook his head.

"I promise you, I'm not." Kurt said to her. "I'm sorry Stephanie, but it's true. It came straight out of Shawn's mouth." Stephanie closed her eyes and felt the world start to spin.

"Oh my God," She muttered. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Kurt tried to pull her to him to comfort her. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"What have I done?" She asked him. "God, Kurt, what have I done?" Kurt didn't know how to respond to that, he only knew that they needed to keep moving soon if they were going to remain hidden and away from Bret and Randy.

**6:58** "You made a mistake, Stephanie." Kurt said to her. "You're only human." She looked up at him.

"I have to make this one right." She said to him. "I have to make this right before it's too late." She said, trying to pull away from him.

"What are you doing?" He asked her. She looked at him and then to Ash, who was sitting on a log not too far from them.

"Back to the warehouse."

"What?" Kurt asked her. "Why?"

"Because Chris needs to know that he was never in this alone." She said to him. "I need to make this right, Kurt, before I lose him. Randy's not going to wait around." As that sentence left her mouth, they were thrown to the ground by the shock wave of an explosion.

Kurt glanced over his shoulder in the direction that they had just come from to see what was left of the warehouse in flames.

**7:00**


	11. 7:00 to 8:00 PM

**A/N: Another chapter up in less than a month, I'm doing good! ;) A big thanks to TakerTakeMe, once again, for the kind review - I'll see what I can do. I honestly have no idea where this thing is going until I take the time to sit down and let my fingers do the talking. On that note, this chapter is a wild one, so I hope you're all ready.**

**7:00-8:00PM**

**7:00** Kurt was momentarily disoriented by the blast, but regained his thoughts rather quickly. He turned to see Stephanie already on her feet and checking on Ash. She seemed intent on counting all of his fingers and toes to make sure that he was still in one piece before finally turning around to see what had caused the blast. Her heart sank.

"No…" She whispered, frozen in place. "Chris…"

"Mommy?" Ash asked her. "Was…was Daddy still in there?" Stephanie came out of her trance and knelt down to wrap her arms Chris's son…their son.

"I don't know baby." She said to him, honestly. "I hope not." She whispered.

**7:03** Randy turned from the flaming sight to face the driver of the car he was currently riding in.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked him. Bret looked at him.

"Do you really even need to ask me that question?" He asked. "If, on the off chance that Stephanie _would_ make it as far as the police, she won't have any news to tell them now other than the building exploded, killing everyone inside, _including_ her two love interests." He said, looking up in the rearview mirror at the two men who were bound in the backseat.

"How's the ride back there, boys?" Bret asked them.

"Peachy, thanks for asking." Chris said. Shawn turned to glare at him for a second but Chris decided to ignore it. Randy turned around and gave him a look. "Yes, _Randall_?" He asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat just because he knew it would irritate him.

"I'm glad you're getting amusement out of this, Chris." Randy said to him. "You've been awfully cocky ever since we noticed that Stephanie and Ash were gone. How do you know that they weren't still hiding in the building somewhere when it blew?" He asked him. Chris leveled his gaze with him and shrugged.

"I don't, but I have a feeling they weren't." Chris said to him.

"And if they were?" Randy prompted him.

"Then I guess I'll be seeing them again soon." He said. Shawn snorted next to him. Chris suppressed the urge to somehow strangle him, gritting his teeth together instead.

"Well, isn't that just _touching_?" Bret commented as he drove. He glanced up in the rearview mirror, which Chris originally thought was to check for cops, but after taking a couple of turns at a suicidal speed, he noticed that there was already a vehicle following them, but it wasn't the cop car he wanted it to be. Ted, Cody, Kennedy, and Mark were in a van behind them, somehow keeping up with Bret's insane pace.

"Maybe Shawn could tell you about another touching story." He said, glancing at Shawn for a second. "How about the one where you met your wife, Shawn?" He suggested. Shawn looked up at him, but remained silent. "What's the matter, Shawn? Cat got your tongue?"

"_No, I know what it is, the bitch here has got you by the heart, doesn't she?"_ Chris finished mentally. He turned to look out the window at the fleeting sun as he thought about the first time that phrase had been spoken to him.

"_If I killed her, I'd actually be doing you a favor, Chris, you need to see it like I do." Hunter said. _

"_That's just the problem, Hunter. I can't get my head that far up my ass." Chris said, his temper finally getting the better of him. Hunter smiled as he tightened his grip around Stephanie's neck._

Chris brought himself back to the present and shot a glance at the two men in the front seat of the car. If there was something that Chris had learned in the past decade, it was that evil – true evil – never really leaves. It merely changes shape. It was hard to believe that everything he was going through stemmed from one single car crash.

And then it hit him.

He looked at the two men in the front seat and knew how he could end this, right here, right now. He just needed to work on getting his hands free.

**7:07** "Do you hear that?" Kurt asked, breaking the silence. Stephanie looked up at him and then cocked her head to the side to try and listen harder to hear whatever it was that he heard. Suddenly, she did hear it.

Sirens.

"Boy these guys don't waste any time, do they?" Kurt commented. Stephanie looked at him for a second before turning back to the flaming building in front of her.

"That doesn't make sense." Stephanie muttered. Kurt knelt next to her.

"What doesn't make sense?" He asked her.

"How would an ambulance be able to get here inside of ten minutes of an explosion that they probably couldn't even see from the city?" Steph asked him. Kurt looked at her for a second before nodding.

"That's a good point." He said to her, shaking his finger in her direction.

"Do you think that Bret did this intentionally to get some more people here?" She asked him. Kurt shook his head slowly before finally snapping his head up to her.

"Snitsky and Heyman!" He said. "Bret killed them because he said that they had ratted Randy out to the police! Bret blew up the building to keep them off of his trail!"

"Are you sure that's what you heard?" Stephanie asked him, grabbing him by the shoulders. Kurt nodded.

"Oh definitely. Well, I don't know if that's really why the building exploded, but it makes sense. He wanted Randy to get things together to be ready to leave, so how else would he get the police off of his tail quickly, apart from thinking that he was dead?" Kurt suggested. Stephanie nodded, before looking back up at him.

"Do you think that they took Chris with them?" She asked him. Kurt paused a moment before shrugging.

"I don't know Steph. I know that Bret wanted to take Shawn with him, and logically Randy never got to finish with Chris, so I would think that they're _both_ with them." He said, as a fire truck pulled into their view. Stephanie nodded.

"Well Bret can _keep_ Shawn for all I'm concerned." Stephanie said to him with an unreadable look on her face. "Whatever Bret does to him…he deserves every minute of it for what he's done and what he's tried to do today." She paused for a moment. "I deserve part of the blame for that too." She added. Kurt shook his head at her, to disagree, but she wouldn't have any part of it. "Yes, I know that I'm human and I made a mistake, Kurt, but this is a _monumental_ mistake on my part. I've got to find Chris and get him out of this."

"Everything that he has _ever_ done, he did for me." She went on. "He did everything without asking for anything but my love in return. And what did I do?" She asked him. "I left him, _twice_." She laughed humorlessly. "It's like I couldn't understand…I couldn't comprehend that he only wanted to love me. I guess that subconsciously I was expecting him to demand something else, or leave on his own and I couldn't stand to be on the losing end. I didn't want to get hurt." She shook her head. "I don't know what the hell I was thinking." Kurt put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You weren't, but then again, neither was he when he filed for the divorce instead of trying to work things out between you." He pointed out. Stephanie studied his face for a second before letting the subject drop. She put a hand on Ash's head and then looked over to see that a second fire truck and an ambulance were now by the warehouse.

"I guess we need to make our presence known." Stephanie said. "Maybe they can help us find Chris." She said, shrugging. Kurt nodded.

"I think that's a good idea." He said as they started back towards the warehouse.

**7:15** "So where are we going now?" Randy asked Bret as they sped down the road. Bret glanced up in the rearview mirror to make sure that the van behind him was still following before glancing at Randy.

"Someplace where you can finish what you started." He said to him. Randy had to suppress an eyeroll. Everything that he had planned to happen today was already out the window. Granted, had it not been for Bret, then they wouldn't even be this far – if what he had said was true. He wondered absently if Bret _had_ been telling the truth about Snitsky and Heyman. It would be painfully easy for Bret to just make something up and pass it off as truth. He had the money and the resources to make anything look the way he wanted it to.

But Randy wasn't too keen on his plan being undermined by someone else. He had been patiently waiting for this day, and he wasn't about to let it be spoiled by someone else – even if that someone else was the person who bailed him out of jail.

A small part of him almost felt bad for thinking that way, though. After all, the guy had come out of hiding and sacrificed a lot to get him out of jail. Randy pressed a couple of fingers to his temple. This whole thing was spiraling out of control. Nothing was going the way it was supposed to, and maybe it wasn't supposed to from the start. Maybe Bret had set him up to fail from the very beginning. But if he did, he must have a hell of a lot of money laying around, considering it would have been upwards of a ten million dollar set-up. Randy sighed. He was done analyzing this situation. He was ready to kill Irvine, get his revenge and get the hell out of dodge.

**7:22 **And that's when the situation went from bad to worse.

Almost in slow motion, Randy saw something flying towards Bret from the backseat. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that it was Chris. He briefly wondered how the hell he'd gotten loose before the car lurched violently to the left. Randy knew instantly what Chris was trying to do and he reached for the steering wheel to try and correct it.

Chris elbowed him in the face and his head was knocked backwards. Bret put his left hand over Chris's face, trying to scratch him or poke him in the eye in an effort to get him away from him. Chris yanked the steering wheel back to the left again at the same time that Bret managed to slam on the brakes. Randy opened his eyes right as the car flipped its way off the road.

The car started to roll over and over again down the hill that the road had been on. Chris smacked his head on the dashboard before getting stuck between the driver and passenger seats. The car continued to roll all the way down, missing the bulk of the trees along the side. Randy put his hands on the dashboard in an effort to keep from hitting it. Over and over the car tumbled, the passengers inside each screaming for it to end.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car struck a tree against its roof and came to a stop.

Shawn struggled to get his eyes open and found himself staring up at the rear passenger window that Chris had been looking out of before he'd gone off the deep end. He put a hand on his face before realizing that the handcuffs that had held his hands behind his back were now broken and he was relatively free. He glanced into the front of the car. Bret was moving his neck around and had his hand pressed to his head, Shawn guessed that he had hit his head on the driver side window when the car struck the tree. Randy was rubbing his forehead and trying to get his breathing under control as Shawn turned to the last passenger in the car.

Chris was sprawled out over the center console awkwardly, his head resting on the dashboard, blood dripping from his nose. Shawn wasn't sure, but he was almost willing to bet money that Chris finally succeeded in killing himself. God knew that the man had a death wish – maybe he had finally got what he wanted. Shawn wasn't about to stick around to find out and honestly, he didn't really care one way or the other. Chris was going to be dead before the day was out regardless.

Shawn inched his way up to a standing position slowly, grabbing for the door that Chris had been sitting beside and trying to push it open so that he could climb out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Shawn?" Bret asked him. Shawn glanced back at him briefly.

"What I do best – pissing you off." He said, before smiling. "Catch me if you can, you son of a bitch." He started to haul himself out of the car as Bret struggled to free himself and get his gun.

"Randy!" Bret screamed. "Randy, get out and get him! Don't let him get away!" Randy started fumbling with his seatbelt, but it was already too late – Shawn was already out of the car.

Shawn glanced up to see Ted and Cody hastily making their way down the hillside. He quickly made the decision to turn right and double back the best he could to the warehouse. He took off at a little bit of a jog, willing his legs to work. He hoped that Ted and Cody hadn't seen him take off, but then decided that it didn't really matter. He sped up to a run, hoping that Stephanie had made it out of the warehouse and that he could convince her to get as far away from here as they could get.

**7:34 **"Randy!" Ted shouted as he and Cody neared the car. Kennedy and Mark were still on their way down the hill, taking their time a little more with it, unlike their younger counterparts. Ted and Cody immediately started working on trying to open the passenger door of the car to get to Randy easier.

"Go after Shawn!" Bret bellowed. "Do **not** let him get away!" Cody nodded and started to run in the direction that he had glimpsed Shawn taking off in. Ted whipped out his pocket knife and was cutting through Randy's seatbelt when Kennedy and Mark finally made it to the car.

"Irvine," Randy started to mumble to Ted as he pulled him free of the car. "Irvine."

"I'll get him, Randy." Ted told him, passing him off to Mark, who held him in at least an upright position. Ted climbed up into the car and started to try and maneuver Chris out from the position that he'd been wedged into.

"Uh, Ted, you might want to speed this up a little." Kennedy said to him, poking his head in. Ted turned to him.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because I'm smelling some serious gasoline. I think that it's safe to say that this thing is gonna blow pretty soon." Kennedy told him.

"Well, here, take his arms and pull him out while I work on getting Bret loose." Ted said to him, pushing Chris up towards Kennedy as far as he could get him to go. Kennedy grabbed Chris under the arms and hauled him out of the car. Randy pushed himself away from Mark and stumbled over to where Kennedy was dragging Chris. Kennedy let him flop on the ground as Randy caught up with him.

"Let me see that son of a bitch." He said, kneeling over Chris and punching him in the face. "Wake up, you bastard!" He screamed. He backhanded him so his head rolled the other direction. "God damn you, Irvine! Wake the fuck up!" Chris started coughing and Randy started to shake him.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" He shouted at him as Chris continued to cough. "Do you **want** to die? Because I could off you right here if that's really what you want, Chris." He threatened, his voice shaking from all of the anger he was trying to contain.

"Randy, let him go!" Bret shouted, jogging up to him. "We _need_ him, Randy. If Stephanie got out, that's where Shawn's headed. If Cody doesn't catch up with him, then we can use Chris as bait to get them all back again." Randy stopped shaking Chris and gritted his teeth at him. Chris's coughing intensified a little bit and then subsided. He opened his eyes slightly and Randy glared at him.

"You're going to wish that you _had_ died in that car crash, Chris." Randy growled to him before shoving him down to the ground again.

**7:46** Shawn was running through the woods as fast as his feet would take him. He didn't look back - he just kept running in the general direction that they had been driving from. With the sun already behind the horizon and night closing in quickly, Shawn was finding it harder and harder to navigate through the woods. He knew that he should probably slow his pace a little bit and be careful in his footing, but he also knew that he didn't have the time. He'd heard the shout for Cody to go after him, and it could go without saying that Cody was more than likely faster than he was.

Shawn was maneuvering his way around a tree when it happened. His ankle rolled and he crumpled to the ground, rolling down the hill through the fallen leaves, trying not to cry out in pain. He clenched his jaw and thought of every curse word he could to damn his luck. He tried to stay as still as possible, hoping that Cody would run past him without seeing him.

"Didjew break your ankle?" a voice came from the left side of Shawn. Shawn whipped his head around to see an old man, possibly in his seventies or eighties standing next to where he lay with a gun over his shoulder.

"Are ya deaf?" He asked. Shawn started to prop himself up.

"No, no, actually, I'm not sure if I broke it." Shawn said. The man knelt down and looked at Shawn's ankle momentarily before shaking his head.

"Yer fine. Jus gave on ya, is all." He said, offering Shawn his hand. "Seein how you was runnin like a demon was chasin ya, can't say I'm surprised." Shawn nodded as he stood up, looking around him.

"I _am_ being chased." Shawn said. "There are men in these woods who want to kill me." The man leaned back and squinted at Shawn.

"What fer?" He asked. Shawn had to restrain the urge to grab the man and shake him violently. He didn't have time for this!

"For something I didn't do. Look, sir, if you have a phone that I could use, I would appreciate it greatly." Shawn said, almost pleading with the man. The man continued to look at him for a second before finally nodding.

"Yeah, I got me a phone. It's back at m'house, though." The man told him. "My truck's over yonder, once you get to the edge of the trees. I can take you there, if ya want." Shawn nodded.

"Thank you, thank you. That would be great." He said, and the man started off towards his truck with Shawn following.

**7:56** "Where the hell are they?" Randy muttered, as Kennedy and Mark were loading a battered, bruised, and barely conscious Chris into the back of the van. Bret was leaning up against the front of the vehicle with his arms folded over his chest. After a few more moments of waiting, Ted emerged from the woods, with Cody following him. Bret looked over to notice they were coming back, but he also noticed that Shawn wasn't with them.

"Where the hell is Shawn?" Bret shouted down at Cody as he and Ted made their way up the hill.

"Some local got to him before I could get him. Had a rifle over his back and I didn't think I'd be able to get much accomplished without a weapon of my own." Cody said as he and Ted got to the top. Bret glared at him.

"He asked to use the guy's phone." Cody said. "More than likely he's going to be calling Stephanie." Bret nodded at him sarcastically.

"Ya think?" He spat.

"He's going to have a hard time finding her, since we still have her cell phone." Ted commented. "He might try calling one of the emergency lines first." Randy nodded.

"We might be able to get a tap on the call and figure out where she is, if we can get Cody to a computer in time." Randy told Bret. Bret continued to glare at them for a little bit before finally giving a slight nod.

**7:59 **"Fine." He said, and everyone else piled into the van. Bret turned back to Kennedy, who was sitting next to Chris. "You make sure he doesn't move." He said, before shifting the van into gear and pulling back onto the road.

In the distance behind them, an explosion from their wrecked car rippled through the night sky.

**8:00**


	12. 8:00 to 9:00 PM

**A/N: Well, I took a little longer for this one, but hopefully you'll all forgive me. TakerTakeMe, DCFanatic4life, LeavnonaJetPlane, and Alliegirl4life I want to thank you for the kind reviews! I hope that you're all sitting down for this one. I hope that it doesn't disappoint. As always, thank you for reading!**

**8:00-9:00PM**

**8:00** "Where is the closest place that Cody can do his work?" Bret asked Randy as they continued to drive.

"Barbie's house isn't far from here." Randy said, wincing a little bit as he turned to face him. He put a hand to his head. Bret glanced at him.

"Barbie?" Bret asked.

"Yeah," Randy said. "Y'know…Kelly Kelly?"

"Oh, that idiot?" Bret asked him in disbelief. "Do you really think she can be trusted?" Randy nodded.

"She can be trusted because everyone _knows_ she's an idiot. No one believes a word she says." Randy told him. Bret seemed to consider this for a moment.

"All right, how far is it?" He asked Randy.

"Not very, take the street to the right up here." Randy started to tell him.

Chris felt like his head was going to explode as he laid in the back of the van. His face felt like it was on fire and everything ached. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and he was definitely starting to feel it. God, he hoped that Kurt had been able to get Stephanie and Ash out in time. He also hoped that Kurt had told Stephanie about Shawn so that if and when he did reach her, she would know better than to believe a word he said. He couldn't believe that sly bastard had managed to escape.

"_I'm just worried about him, is all." Stephanie said to him as they pulled back the sheets on their bed. Chris nodded. _

"_I know what you mean. The guy lost his son, and Rebecca…" he trailed off. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you or Ash." He admitted. "I can't even imagine losing you both." Stephanie let her hair down from the bun it was in. She looked at his reflection in her mirror as she took her earrings out._

"_I know what you mean." She said to him. "I can't imagine losing either of you the way he did. I almost want to recommend him to a counselor, because of the trauma that he's been through." Chris scoffed as he pulled his shoes off._

"_He wouldn't go." Chris said. "He's too proud for that." Stephanie smiled and crawled across the bed to wrap her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek._

"_Sounds like someone else I know." She said to him. He turned and kissed her on the lips._

"_Well, he __**is**__ my friend." He pointed out to her. She nodded. _

"_I know." She said, moving back across the bed to rummage through her dresser before disappearing into the bathroom. Chris let himself fall back against the bed with his arms stretched out above his head and sighed. He closed his eyes and found himself wondering what he could do to help his friend through this. He knew that it had been a little more than a year already, but Shawn seemed to be a little…off lately. _

_He heard Ash make some sounds through the baby monitor and he waited a few seconds before deciding that he was okay. He was just about to sit up when Stephanie sat on top of him, straddling his waist. He opened his eyes to look at her. His breath caught in his throat._

"_Those are __**not**__ your pajamas." He managed to say. She beamed at him, before shrugging._

"_Thought you might like a little surprise." She said. He smirked._

"_Well you thought right." He told her. She leaned over and put her hands on his wrists before kissing him._

"_What brought this on?" He asked her when they broke apart. She let her face hover above his, their breath mingling. _

"_Do you really care?" She asked him, with a smile on her face. He smirked again._

"_If it means I'm getting lucky, not really." He admitted, laughing as she smacked his chest. He ran his hands up and down her bare arms as she looked at him._

"_I passed by your office today and just looked in at you, and you looked so frustrated that you might put your head through the nearest window." She said. "And I know that you're only putting up with this because I want to hang on to my father's business."_

"_Hey, I love that business too." Chris pointed out._

"_Not enough to put up with all of this by yourself." She said to him and he nodded his agreement. She took one of his hands in hers and traced the scars that were there. He put his free hand up to her face._

"_It's what you want." He said to her. "And if it's what you want, it's what I want." She moved his hand to where it was placed over her heart._

"_Well, right now the only thing I want is to show you how much you mean to me." She said. "How much it means to me that you put up with all of that to make me happy." _

"_If that's what you want…" Chris said, trailing off with a smile on his face. Stephanie leaned in towards him once more and kissed him slowly. _

Chris opened his eyes again, the memory gone from his mind as the pain of consciousness started to sink in again. He could feel the blood still running down his face from his nose and he swore that if he and Stephanie made it through today, he would try to work it out with her. If he could even feel half as good as he had in that moment, he could die with a smile on his face.

**8:09** "Do you want me to bring him in?" He heard Kennedy ask Randy. Randy paused for a second.

"Yeah, bring him in." He said. Bret was already talking to Barbie on the front step and Cody was standing next to him. Kennedy opened the back door of the van and hopped out before pulling Chris into a sitting position. He helped him out and hauled him over to the front door where Barbie was still standing.

"Oh no!" Barbie exclaimed. "Are you guys all right, what happened?" She asked them.

"We're fine, Barbie, it's a long story." Randy reassured her as Kennedy took Chris into the house. Cody was already typing away furiously on Barbie's computer as Kennedy lowered Chris down on the couch. Ted was sitting next to Cody, offering his opinion on the fastest way to do whatever it was they were doing. Bret was pacing around the room, looking at everything and glancing at his watch periodically.

"We need to hurry if we're going to pull this off." Bret reminded them. Cody swatted him away.

"If you give me a few minutes, we'll know everything we need to and then some." He promised.

"In a few minutes, Shawn may have already contacted Stephanie and they could be getting ready to run." Bret said.

"What makes you think he's going to run?" Ted asked him. Bret stopped pacing momentarily to stare at a picture on Barbie's wall.

"Because that's what he does best." Bret said absently. "He makes a mess and then runs away." He turned to Chris, sitting on the couch.

"Wouldn't you agree, Chris?" Bret asked him, sitting down on the coffee table in front of him. Chris looked like he was on dream street rather than listening to anything that Bret was saying. Bret tapped him on the side of the face a few times to try and get his attention. Chris at least moved his eyes to focus on Bret.

"You and I are more alike than you think, Chris." Bret told him. "I mean, think about it: we're both Canadian, we're both legends in the wrestling business. At the moment, many people think that both of us are dead. But, we've got another thing in common, too." Bret said. "We've both been betrayed by Shawn Hickenbottom." Chris snorted, a small amount of blood coming out of his nose as he did so.

"I know what you're thinking. A wife and a world title are two very different things." Bret said. "Well, you're right, but there's another part to this story that you don't know yet."

"We're up!" Cody shouted. Bret turned to him.

"What do we have?"

"Everything. We have all of the emergency services frequencies as well as any cell phone frequency within about a 20 mile radius. If there's a phone call being placed dealing with Stephanie or Shawn's names we're going to know about it." Cody told him. Bret smiled.

"Good work." He said.

"Why do you need to know when Stephanie's name comes up with the police?" Barbie asked, entering the room and sitting down next to Chris. She turned to face him before getting an answer from Bret. "Did you know that if you tilt your head back it can help stop your nosebleed?"

"Barbie." Randy said.

"My mother told me that once." Barbie continued, not hearing Randy, or simply not caring. Chris found himself turning to face her just out of morbid curiosity. "See, this one time, I was riding my bike,"

"Barbie." Randy said again.

"And my mother always told me that I was supposed to wear a helmet if I was going to ride my bike. But one day, I decided that I wasn't going to wear it. I rode my bike down the street and there was this huge crack in the road where it was all uneven, y'know?" Chris felt like his brain was being sucked out of his skull at that very moment.

"Barbie," Randy said, a little louder.

"My tire got caught in the crack and I flipped over, smashing face first into the pavement. My nose was just gushing all of this blood. It was pretty gross." Chris heard stories about Barbie's intelligence level, but he hadn't actually met the girl until now. After listening to her for the past thirty seconds he could tell that every story he'd been told was true.

"Barbie!" Randy shouted. She turned to look at him.

"What?" She asked. He shook his head at her.

"We don't have time to listen to your stories." Randy said to her. "We're working pretty hard on something right now, okay?" Barbie nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, do you want me to play some music?" She asked them. "I find that I always work a little better when there's music playing." Chris heard Kennedy begin to snicker on the other side of him.

"No, we don't want any music, Barbie. Look, do you have something else you can do while we're in here? Like a book to read or something?" Randy asked her.

"I don't really read too much. Well….I do have this scrapbook I could be working on…." She said. "I have these really cute pictures-"

"Great!" Randy said, cutting her off and pulling her to her feet. "Why don't you show me?" He asked her, shooting a look at Bret that, if anything, signaled for him to hurry. He walked her down the hallway, away from them.

Kennedy leaned forward and looked over to Ted, who had been hiding his face to keep her from seeing him laugh.

"Does anyone else feel that the average IQ in this room just made a significant jump?" Kennedy asked. Ted burst out laughing.

**8:23** "I got something!" Cody shouted.

"Thank God," Bret muttered.

"She's still at the warehouse…" Cody said. Chris let out a shallow sigh of relief. Stephanie was alive at least - and Ash would be with her. "They're processing the information she gave them. Apparently there was someone else with her." Bret walked over to stand behind Cody.

"She was there with….Kurt Angle." He said. Bret turned slowly towards Chris. Everything fell into place for him - Chris could almost see the wheels turning in his eyes.

"You're better than I gave you credit for, Irvine." Bret said. "_That's_ why you were so confident about their escape." He mused.

"They're going to get clearance to leave soon." Cody said.

"Any word on Shawn?" Bret asked him. Cody shook his head.

"Nothing yet." He said.

"What about on the cell frequencies?" Bret asked Ted. Ted shook his head.

"No calls made or received at all yet." He said. Bret nodded.

"Keep monitoring. If he doesn't surface in the next ten minutes, we're going to intercept Stephanie and Kurt and wait for him to come to us." He said. He turned back to Chris.

"You nearly killed yourself twice to let them get away." He said, starting to walk towards him, sitting down on the coffee table once more. "But I promise you this, after I'm done with Shawn, if Randy's not done with you yet, I will find Stephanie and Ash and I will murder them in front of you for interfering in my plans." Chris leveled his gaze with Bret.

"If you lay a hand on either of them, I'll rip your heart out of your chest." Chris promised him. Bret smiled.

"Sounds like we have ourselves a deal." He said.

**8:38 **Shawn stood awkwardly in the small kitchen as Hank, the man who had found him in the forest, hung his gun back above the door. He watched as the old man wound his way through the thin kitchen and pulled an old rotary style phone from under a huge stack of papers and books. He set it up on the counter and turned to Shawn.

"It looks like an antique, but it'll get the job done." Hank reassured him. Shawn nodded.

"Thank you." He said, before walking over to the phone and picked it up. He paused for a few moments as he held the phone, thinking of what number to dial. He knew that Stephanie didn't have her phone with her, and he wasn't sure how to call the police and ask for her without making himself look suspicious. He wrinkled his brow and thought for a moment. Then he started to dial.

Ash was sleeping on Stephanie's shoulder when Kurt's phone began to ring beside her. She looked over to where he was standing and then decided to just answer it herself.

"Hello?" She asked, as she flipped the phone open.

"Stephanie?" Shawn asked.

"Got 'em!" Ted shouted, pulling the headphones out of the computer so the feed could be heard by everyone.

"Shawn?" Stephanie's voice filled the room. Chris felt his stomach begin to sink.

"Stephanie, God, you don't know how good it is to hear your voice. Look, I know that you and I haven't been getting along today, but I really need-"

"Where's Chris?" She asked, cutting him off. Shawn was taken back for a second.

"What?" He asked her.

"I asked you where Chris was. Is he with you?" She asked him.

"No, no he's not." Shawn confessed. "Sweetheart, about Chris…"

"Look, Shawn, I know what you've been up to today." She said, cutting him off once more. "I know that you and Randy were in on this together to get rid of Chris." Chris closed his eyes. She knew. Thank God for small favors.

"What? What are you talking about?" Shawn asked her.

"Don't play dumb with me, Shawn!" She snapped at him.

"I'm not playing dumb, Stephanie! I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Shawn said to her.

"Damn it, Shawn! Stop! I know you're lying to me!" She screamed. Chris could tell that she was crying. "If you killed Chris, I swear to God that I will make you pay for it."

"We've got a lock on Shawn's position." Ted muttered to Bret. Bret nodded.

"Put it on the PDA and get ready to intercept him." He said.

"What about Stephanie?" Ted asked him. Bret looked over to Chris for a moment, who was glaring at him.

"I have other plans for Stephanie." He said.

"He killed himself!" Shawn shouted. "Damn it Stephanie, he killed himself to get you and Ash out of the warehouse." The line fell silent.

"Baby…I am so sorry." He whispered to her. "I am. But it's the truth. He hung himself to create the diversion for you to escape." Stephanie was silent for a little longer and then she started to laugh.

"You know something, Shawn, you are one _hell_ of an actor." She said to him. "To think that I was actually contemplating marrying you!" She shook her head. "You are really good, I have to give you credit. You really had me fooled for a while, thinking that you actually cared about me."

"I **do** care about you." Shawn insisted.

"No, you don't. You want to know someone who does? _Chris does_. Chris _loves_ me." She said to him. "He always has and I was just too stupid to realize it. He is ten times the man you will _never_ be, and I can't believe that I left him for you! You are a lying, manipulative sack of shit and I hope to God that I never see you again, because if I do, so help me I will castrate you where you stand." Chris felt the corners of his mouth turn up as Ted whistled.

"Damn." Ted said, smiling slightly. "She is _pissed_."

"Stephanie…" Shawn started to plead with her.

**8:46 **"Go to hell Shawn." Stephanie spat and slammed the phone shut. There was so much anger coursing through her at the moment that she had to sit down. Kurt had only caught the last few minutes of her conversation, but he put two and two together pretty quickly.

"Are you all right?" He asked her, kneeling next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded as tears began to stream down her face.

"What if he was right about Chris?" she asked him. "What if he really is dead?" Kurt gave her a look.

"Do you really believe that he is?" He asked her. She shook her head.

"No. I think that he's still out there. I have to." She said.

**8:47** Shawn placed the phone back in its cradle slowly. Hank had long since wandered off, and Shawn was glad for it. He buried his head in his hands and sighed deeply. What in the hell was he going to do now? The whole point of him getting away was to get Stephanie and get out of the country to lay low for a while. Now he was going to have to try and get out of the country without any resources at all. Stephanie would have the cops combing everywhere for him and Bret was like a damn ghost.

"Thanks, Hank!" Shawn shouted to the empty house and walked back outside. He knew that the longer he stayed there, the more chance that Bret would have of catching him. He picked a direction in the darkness and started out.

**8:52** Cody was loading the last of the equipment into the van when Randy emerged from the house. Ted and Cody both gave him a look.

"What's with you?" Cody asked him. Randy shook his head and climbed into the van. They were all in but Bret, who was taking an awfully long time considering how strict of a schedule the man normally kept.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Bret finally came walking out of the house, dragging Barbie behind him. Randy rolled the window down.

"I thought you said we would leave her out of this." Randy hissed at him. Bret ignored him and shoved her into the back of the van with Chris and Kennedy before climbing back into the driver's seat. Randy pulled a gun on him as he stuck the key in the ignition. Bret stopped moving as he heard the gun cock. He turned slowly to look at Randy.

**8:58** "What are you doing, Randy?" He asked him.

"Something I should have done the instant you came into that warehouse." He said. "You listen to **me**. This is **my** operation, damn it. **Mine**. Not yours. **I** am the one calling the shots." Randy heard another gun cock behind him.

"Randy…" Barbie pleaded as Kennedy jabbed his pistol into her temple. Randy set his jaw, not breaking eye contact with Bret. "Randy…help me…" She pleaded again. Randy looked at Bret for a moment longer and then turned to the back of the van, pulling the trigger without a second thought.

Chris bit his tongue to keep from making a sound as her blood splattered across his face. She fell into his lap, her eyes wide and staring up at him, almost like they were blaming him for the hole that was now in her pretty little face. Randy turned back to Bret, who had an impressed look on his face.

"Drive." Randy said to him, putting the gun back in his lap and wiping his face with his hands.

**9:00**


	13. 9:00 to 10:00 PM

**A/N: So we're over halfway now - that's hard for me to believe. It seems like I've been working on this story forever! I've been on a little bit of a roll lately...maybe I can see it through to the end this time? Thanks again to everyone who read last chapter and didn't get the chance to review and a big thanks to TakerTakeMe for reviewing and insulting Kelly Kelly even further. It made me smile. Hope you all enjoy this one just as much.**

**9:00-10:00PM**

**9:00** Chris swallowed back the urge to puke as the van slowly lurched into drive. Barbie's face rolled into his thigh and he could feel her blood begin to seep through the leg of his jeans. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to get his breathing back under control.

He almost felt like a coward for freaking out about her death as much as he was. It wasn't like he hadn't seen anything like it before, and he knew it wouldn't be the last time, either. Something about it, though just kind of upset him in a place too deep to mention. It had been so…sudden. He had fully expected Bret to kill her at some point, but he had never pegged Randy to do it. Maybe that was Randy's point – maybe he wanted Bret to believe that he wasn't the only one who could kill without a second thought.

Chris opened his eyes again and looked down at Barbie once more. He wanted to look away from her, he really did, but his eyes seemed to be glued to her – even with his eyes shut, he could see her just as vividly in his mind.

"That's what I would have looked like." He thought suddenly. "Had I actually pulled that trigger, this is what I would have looked like." He had a brief thought of the night where he had contemplated killing himself and then imagined Stephanie walking in and finding him. Or Ash. He closed his eyes and shuddered.

"Which way was it to Shawn's location?" Bret asked. Cody tapped the PDA a couple of times.

"About five miles east." Cody answered. "You need to make a left up here." He said.

"How far is it to where Stephanie was last?" Randy asked. Cody tapped the PDA twice more.

"She's still at the warehouse." Cody said.

"Do we have the cell number she answered?" Randy asked. Cody nodded.

"Yeah, we still have the number." Ted answered. "You aren't seriously thinking of going back to the warehouse with all of those cops around, are you?" He asked. Mark cracked his knuckles as Randy shook his head.

"No, there's no need for that." He said. Bret glanced at him. "Start directing us to the safe house, Cody."

"If you think that I'm just going to let Shawn go after all of this-" Bret started.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a wad, Bret." Randy said to him. "We're going to get him back – Stephanie and Ash too. You just need to be patient." Bret glanced at him again mistrustfully. Randy smiled.

"You're not the only one capable of a few surprises." Randy said to him, leaning back against the headrest.

**9:07** Stephanie rocked Ash back and forth as she and Kurt stood around waiting for one of the police officers to tell them they were free to go. Ash mumbled something into her shoulder and she stopped swaying for a second.

"What is it, baby?" She asked him. He rolled his head and looked at her.

"I don't feel good." He mumbled again.

"You don't feel good? Does your tummy hurt?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No, my head hurts." He answered her. She put a hand on his head to see if he had a fever. She pressed her lips together as she thought.

"Kurt, I'm going to walk Ash over to those paramedics." She told him. "If they start looking for me, that's where I'll be." Kurt nodded and yawned. The police officers had told them to remain nearby until they were told it was okay for them to leave. Stephanie walked over to the group of paramedics that were standing around talking, since there was nothing more for them to do on the scene.

"I'm really sorry to bother you." Stephanie said, cutting into their conversation. "But my son…he's not feeling well and I was wondering if one of you could take a look at him."

"Sure." One of the men stepped over from the group and held out his arms to take him. Stephanie hesitated for a moment before handing Ash to the man and they walked over to where one of the ambulances was parked. The medic opened the back door and climbed in, right as one of the officers jogged over towards Stephanie.

"Ms. McMahon?" the officer asked. Stephanie turned around.

"Yes?" She asked him.

"We need your signatures on these statements, and then you and your son are free to go. Mr. Angle is waiting for you." He said. Stephanie nodded and grabbed the pen that the officer held out to her and signed the form he had in his hand. She handed the pen back to him and turned around to walk over to the ambulance and froze.

The ambulance was still there, with the doors wide open, but there was no one inside.

"Oh my God." She muttered. She ran to the front of the ambulance and yanked the door open, looking into the empty cab.

"Ash!" She screamed, running back around to the rear of the ambulance. "Ash!" She grabbed the nearest person that walked by.

"Did you see my son? Did you see the man who took my son?!" She screamed in his face. The man shook his head nervously.

"Ma'am, I-" he started, but she let go of him and started to scream for Ash again. Kurt and a handful of officers started to run over to her.

"Stephanie, Stephanie what's wrong?" Kurt asked her, trying to still her from pacing. She whirled to face him.

"They took him, Kurt." She sobbed, grabbing hold of the sleeves of his shirt. "They took him."

"Took who?" Kurt asked her.

"Ash…" She said, her voice cracking on his name before she started to cry uncontrollably.

**9:16** In the dark woods that surrounded the warehouse, Ash was kicking and screaming into the hand of his captor. The man grunted and tried to get a better hold on him as he hurried through the woods to where his escape car had been parked. He could just begin make it out when Ash bit down on one of the man's fingers. The man dropped him and howled in pain and Ash started to run. The man took off after him.

"Help!" Ash screamed. The man leapt and grabbed Ash by the back of his shirt, clamping his hand down over his mouth again. He pulled him to where their faces were merely inches apart.

"You try to do that again…I'll make sure that not even your Mommy recognizes you when she sees you again. Got it?" He threatened. Ash nodded through his tears. "Good." He picked the boy up once again and hauled him over to the trunk. He opened the trunk and pulled out a roll of duct tape, quickly taping Ash's mouth shut after removing his hand. He then used the tape to bind Ash's hands together behind him. Ash was standing in the trunk when the man was finished.

"Sit down." The man told him. Ash swallowed and didn't move.

"I said, sit _down_." He repeated. Ash stayed where he was. The man let out an irritated sigh and struck Ash across the face, causing him to stumble back and fall into the trunk. The man pushed him on his back and slammed the lid down on his horrified face.

**9:24** Shawn raked his hands through his hair for what felt like the twentieth time. He should have taken a damn flashlight from that old man. The trees were blocking out any light he might have been able to get from the moon, and he managed to keep stepping at awkward angles where his ankle would roll and he would stumble.

He cursed his luck.

Before today, everything had been going according to plan. Stephanie had agreed to marry him, he was finally going to be rid of Chris and his worry that she would leave to go back to him. He knew that she had tossed the idea around many times in the last year, wanting to try and put things behind them, but Chris wouldn't give her the time of day.

He remembered what it had been like when Chris had found them that night. If Chris hadn't come home early, maybe none of this would be happening right now. Shawn knew that he was standing there before he announced his presence – he'd heard him push the door open. He figured that he'd try to give Chris a little bit of a lesson in pleasing his wife, since he had his attention. When the suitcase hit the ground, Stephanie jumped and they both turned to see him.

It had been raining that night and Chris was soaked head to toe from the rain, which Shawn thought gave him a little more of a maniacal look as he stood there. Stephanie fumbled for her clothes and started towards him, but he backed away from her. She started to apologize and try to rationalize the situation, as Chris put his hands to his forehead, like he was trying to keep the room from spinning. He got a pained expression on his face and screamed incoherently at her before walking away to sit on the steps leading up to the hallway.

Stephanie had confided to him that Chris never spoke more than two words to her in the week following. When Ash was around, he tried to put on like everything was okay, but when they were alone, there was nothing said. He slept on the couch and she slept in the bed. A week after that Chris told her he wanted a divorce.

Shawn let out a sigh as he looked around once again. He should have just asked Hank if it was all right to stay with him before he ran out in the dark on his own. He should've known better than that. His feet stepped on pavement at that moment and he stopped. He looked around and realized that he was standing on the edge of the highway that he'd been on before Chris flipped his lid. He saw the headlights from a car come up from over the hill in the distance. He shook his head.

"Whaddya know?" He mused to himself and started waving his arms. Thankfully, the car pulled over and the window rolled down.

"Need a ride?" The man asked. Shawn nodded. The man motioned toward him.

"Get in." He said, and Shawn opened the door and climbed in.

"Thanks." He said.

"Where're you heading?" The man asked him.

"Anywhere but here." Shawn answered and the man laughed.

"Sounds like a plan." He said, extending his hand. "My name's John."

"Shawn." Shawn said, shaking it, and then John shifted the car into gear once more.

"Are you just getting off work?" Shawn asked him. John looked at him for a second, confused. Shawn motioned to his clothes. John looked down for a second and then nodded.

"Oh, yeah." He said. "Sorry, it's been a long day." Shawn nodded in return.

"I know what you mean." He said. "I didn't know there were hospitals near here."

"There's not really, but a lot of us got called out to deal with a warehouse explosion." John told him. "My ambulance happened to be one of them."

"Ah," Shawn said, hoping that he wasn't arousing suspicion. "Are you a driver or…?"

"No, actually, I'm a medic." John told him. "I'm the one who gets the chicks." He said, chuckling. They both fell silent for a moment and a thud sounded from the trunk. John sighed and Shawn looked at him.

"My rear suspension's been going out for about a year now." He said, reaching for the radio. "You can't get many stations out here, but every once in a while you can pick up something pretty decent." Shawn nodded as John started to scan through the radio stations.

**9:32** Kurt was sitting next to Stephanie as she stared blankly in front of her. She had a blanket wrapped around her and she was holding water in her right hand, all attempts to get her to calm down. But when they had finally succeeded in doing so, Kurt thought that she was just eerily quiet. No doubt she was in shock from everything else that had already happened, and to lose her son so close after finally escaping that hell…

Kurt didn't even know what to think.

"-you've checked it twice now?" He heard the lieutenant in charge ask one of the officers standing around him. The officer nodded.

"Yes sir. Same result every time." He said.

"So what does this error message mean?" The lieutenant asked.

"Someone was tampering with our system." The officer told him.

"Tampering how?" The lieutenant asked. The officer shook his head.

"It's not clear yet, sir." He said.

"Do we think this could have had something to do with the boy?" The lieutenant asked. The officer shrugged. Kurt turned back to Stephanie and she was looking at him intently.

"What are they talking about?" She asked him.

"Something's wrong with their system." Kurt said to her lowly. "Someone was tampering with something and they just now caught it."

"Randy." Stephanie said. Kurt looked at her.

"C'mon, Steph. Where would Randy have computer access at this point?" He asked. "He's already destroyed his hideout."

"Maybe this one was a decoy." Stephanie said. "Maybe this isn't where he wanted his end game to be." Kurt's look turned skeptical.

"You're reaching." He warned her.

"Well what else do you expect me to do, Kurt?" She asked him. "Ash has been kidnapped and Chris is still with Randy…I have to believe that he's still with Randy – that there's something more Randy wants from him before I can get to him. I have to believe that's where Ash is being taken too." She said.

"But what would Randy want with Ash? He wasn't even born when this whole thing happened." Kurt said. Stephanie looked at him gravely.

"Randy wants to completely destroy Chris by destroying the things he loves first. Chris loves Ash more than anything in the world and Randy knows that." She said. "He's going to use it to his advantage – you can count on it." Kurt looked at her intently for a moment.

"Well, captain," Kurt said. "Where do we start?"

**9:48** Bret shifted the van into park and stared at the building in front of him. It was an old, rotted church that seemed to him like it might have been around when the Salem witch trials were big. Half of the roof was gone, the door was hanging open, and it seemed like if the wind was blowing at all, it would have been swaying.

"A church?" He asked Randy dubiously. "Your idea of a safe house is a _church_?" Randy shook his head at him.

"Oh, come on Bret. Where's your sense of irony?" He said, as he exited the van. "Besides, there's more to her than you think." Bret pulled the key from the ignition and got out as well. Randy walked around to the back of the van and opened it. Kennedy hopped out and Randy turned his attention to Chris.

"I don't think that Stephanie would approve of seeing you like this."Randy said to Chris, who merely glared at him. He turned back to Kennedy and Mark, who had just walked up.

"Get rid of her – make sure the body won't be discovered." He said to them. Kennedy walked over and pulled Barbie from Chris's lap and threw her over his shoulder as Mark grabbed a shovel from the toolkit built into the door. Randy grabbed Chris by the shoulder and yanked him out of the van, sending him sprawling to the pavement. He walked over to him and yanked him back to his feet.

"Do you know how long I've waited for this, Chris?" Randy asked him as he started to march Chris towards the old church. "Too long."

"Why don't you just get it over with and spare me your boring 'bad guy' monologue?" Chris asked him. "You want me dead. The only person stopping you from seeing that happen right now is _you_." Randy seemed to be considering this for a second.

"You don't know me as well as you think you do, Chris." Randy told him as they passed through the broken door. "I've been waiting and planning for this day for six years. Six long years, Chris." He paused. "What I'm going to do to you is going to make it seem like it will never stop. It's going to seem like at least six years to you. And it's not going to end until I make sure that you have suffered for everything you've done to me."

He stopped talking momentarily as they walked down the aisle of remaining pews towards the pulpit. Chris watched as Ted and Cody rounded the table that, long ago a priest would have given his homily behind, and then they started to descend. Chris wrinkled his brow. Randy led him around behind the table as well and Chris saw that there was a set of stone steps leading down.

Randy walked him down the steps into a room that branched off in all different directions – presumably to a series of rooms and hallways. Electrical equipment completely lined the far wall and there were wires crisscrossed and going every which direction that Chris could see. Randy certainly _had_ been planning this out for a while.

**10:00 **"Now, we're gonna have some fun." Randy promised him.


	14. 10:00 to 11:00 PM

**A/N: First off, I want to apologize for not being able to update this sooner. Had a few extra things on my plate to contend with before I was able to focus on this. Hopefully I can stay on track with a new chapter each week now again, but we'll see. I'll do my best! Secondly, thank you to everyone who reviewed - alliegirl4life, aresgirl, and (as always) DCFanatic4Life and TakerTakeMe. With that done, I hope you all enjoy the next chapter...**

**10:00-11:00PM**

**10:00** Before Chris had time to think about what Randy was implying with his comment, Randy was already leading him down the hallway jetting off to the right. Randy pushed his head down before fully entering the hallway and it didn't take Chris long to figure out why. Like many older buildings, the hallways were tight and small. They were only walking for a few seconds before Randy finally pushed a metal door open, revealing a small room.

The room, like the rest of the basement, was completely built from stones. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, covered in stones. There wasn't a window – the only light came from a floor lamp in the far corner of the room. The only other object occupying the room was a folding chair that was propped up against the wall.

Randy pushed Chris into the room and followed him in. He undid Chris' handcuffs so that his hands were in front of him and then he unfolded the chair, sitting it in front of him. Chris looked at the chair for a second and then back up to Randy.

"Sit." Randy said to him.

"Why?" Chris asked him. "You're so eager to make my life miserable, making sure I'm comfortable in this dungeon doesn't seem like it should be high on your list."

"How about you just sit the fuck down and stop asking questions?" Randy asked him. "Honestly Chris. You should just drop the attitude at this point – you know that you're going to be killed, so what is the point with this endless charade?" Chris set his jaw for a second, thinking about saying something else, but then deciding against it. He sat down in the chair. Randy almost seemed surprised.

"Randy!" Mark said, popping his head into the room. Randy turned to him. "Bret wants to talk to you." Randy sighed.

"Right now?" Mark nodded.

"That's what he said." Mark told him. Randy nodded.

"Fine, fine. Stay here with him and make sure that he doesn't move." Randy told him, before walking past him back into the hallway. Mark closed the door behind him and then walked over to the center of the room where Chris was sitting.

He stopped briefly in front of Chris, almost like he wanted to say something to him, but then he walked on. The whole time Randy was gone, he just continued to walk around the room slowly, not really looking at anything, not saying anything to Chris.

All the while, Chris was watching him from the corner of his eye. He'd seen the slightest glimpse of a gun tucked in the back of Mark's pants and he was determined to get a hold of it. He didn't know what the hell he was going to do when he got the gun – he doubted that he would be lucky enough to be able to shoot his way out of this place and make it back to Stephanie and Ash in one piece. But maybe he could at least take down Randy and Bret. They were the biggest threat to Ash and Stephanie. Cody, Ted and Kennedy didn't seem like they would be much resistance with the other two gone.

He watched Mark walk by once more and decided that on the next pace, he was going to lunge for it. Seconds turned into eons as he watched Mark pace down towards the wall and ever so slowly turn back and start walking back to him. He could hear Randy's voice back in the hallway. Mark was two steps away from where Chris wanted him to be. He listened as Randy's footsteps got louder and louder. One more step…

As Randy opened the door to re-enter the room, Chris lunged for the gun that was tucked into the back of Mark's pants. He snatched it and whirled around, shooting Mark in the chest and then whipping his arms around to aim the weapon at Randy, who had pulled his own gun. Mark stumbled back and fell against the wall as Chris and Randy stared each other down.

"What are you doing Chris?" Randy asked him calmly, ignoring the fact that Mark had just slid to the floor and was gasping his last few breaths.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Chris spat. "I'm putting an end to this and all of your shit, Randy. I've heard enough! Do you know how many people's lives you've ruined? Do you have any idea what you've _already done to me_? If there is **anyone** who deserves some retribution around here – it's _me_!"

"So what are you waiting for?" Randy asked him. "Pull the trigger and see what it gets you." Chris aimed the pistol at Randy's head and then paused for a moment.

"I hope you rot in hell." Chris muttered to him, before squeezing the trigger.

_Click_.

_Click…Click…Click._

There were no words to accurately describe the amount of frustration coursing through Chris at that moment. He cursed under his breath and closed his eyes as he lowered the empty gun in defeat. Randy smiled. Chris let the gun drop to the ground as Randy walked up to him and pistol whipped him across the face. Chris stumbled back and fell to a knee by the folding chair. Randy wrapped his hands around Chris' neck and pulled him to where their faces were inches apart.

"You remember that moment, Chris." Randy whispered to him. "That was your last chance at freedom." He said, pushing Chris to the ground while keeping his hands wrapped tightly around Chris' neck.

Had Chris not already been beaten badly twice earlier in the day and if he wasn't so exhausted from everything, he might have been more successful in his resistance. He was struggling to get himself free, but not to the amount that his mind was screaming for him to. His body was giving up on him and he couldn't say that he blamed it.

He stared into Randy's face as the darkness started to creep in from the edges of his vision. Chris noticed that even though Randy's eyes were ice blue, there was a fire behind them that he had only seen in a handful of people before him. It was the fire of excitement at finally getting what you want.

"_This is the way the world ends…not with a bang, but a whimper."_ Chris thought idly as the darkness continued to creep in on him – his limbs falling limp ever so slowly. _"God help me, this is how I'm going to die…this is actually how I'm going to die…at the hands of this psycho…_" He thought. _"What about Stephanie? What about…What about Ash? What will they do now?"_ Chris's eyes started to lose focus on Randy's face and he started to feel numb. He was suffocating…struggling for air, fighting and resisting with everything he had, but it was almost like none of that was really happening. He felt like it was all a bad dream and he was finally starting to wake up.

Randy felt himself getting excited as Chris' movements started to get slower and slower. He saw Chris's eyes lose focus and he smiled. He wanted nothing more than to squeeze for a few moments longer and ensure that Chris wasn't going to open those eyes ever again, but he also knew that he had something that would make him feel ten times better than what he felt at this moment.

At the last possible moment, Randy let go of Chris and stood back up. He glanced at Chris briefly, coughing and gasping for air in a semi-unconscious state, before turning around and walking out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

**10:16** Shawn leaned his head back against the headrest as John continued to drive on in comfortable silence. The radio was playing some nonsense rock music that Shawn couldn't make out three words of what they were saying, but it was something that made John happy and Shawn was all for it.

Shawn immersed himself in his thoughts as he turned to look out the window. He had to think about his next move – where he was going, how he was going to get there. Everything had become so complicated now.

Stephanie was supposed to come out of this day heartbroken at the loss of Chris, but she was supposed to still be with **him**. He knew that she would more than likely beg Chris to take her back, and that he would more than likely take her back if she persuaded him enough. That was always assuming that Chris actually made it out of this day alive.

Nothing had gone to plan. He was never supposed to get this deep. Stephanie was never supposed to find out about his involvement. He didn't even know how the hell she had found out. There was no way that the cops knew…was there?

Shawn felt his stomach churn a little bit. If the cops knew about his involvement in this plan, then surely he'd be a wanted man. That would certainly complicate his escape…

A loud thump and John's swerving startled him out of his reverie. John kept the car under control and slowed to a stop on the side of the road. He turned to Shawn.

"I must have ran over something - I think I got a flat." John said, getting out. Shawn followed him out. They started walking around the car and they both came to the problem tire at the same time. John kicked the tire briefly and sighed.

"Do you want me to help you change it?" Shawn asked him. John shook his head.

"Oh nah, man. I got this. Don't worry about it." John said.

"Oh come on, you're giving me a ride, the least I can do is help you fix your tire." Shawn said, stepping in front of the trunk. John glanced at the trunk for a moment.

"I can handle it." He said, his voice slightly clipped. Shawn held up his hands in defense.

"Will you at least let me help you get the car jacked up to where you can get the tire off?" Shawn asked him, walking over to look at the tire once more.

"If you insist. Let me get the jack out for you." John said, walking over to unlock the trunk. He raised the lid and Ash's tear-streaked face came back into view. John gave him a stern look that clearly told him to keep quiet. He moved Ash out of the way a little bit and reached for the tire iron and his jack. He pulled the jack out, sitting it on the ground and wheeling it over to Shawn.

Shawn laid down on the pavement and pushed the jack under the car, propping it up to where they would have enough room to get the flat tire off and the spare on. He rolled out from under the car and started to stand back up.

"Well that should at least get you start-" Shawn's sentence was cut off as John hit him in the side of the face with the tire iron. Shawn fell backwards, knocked out cold by the blow. John dropped the tire iron on the pavement and flung his hand a couple of times. He looked down at Shawn and shook his head. He grabbed him under the arms and started to maneuver him into the backseat of the car.

**10:32** "Ms. McMahon, I have to say that I don't agree with letting you go." The captain was telling her. Stephanie nodded.

"I understand your concern, captain, and I know that you're going to do everything in your power to help find my son." She said to him. "I would just like to go back to my office to see if there's anything that can help."

"Will you let me send one of my deputies with you?" He asked. Stephanie sighed.

"I'll have Mr. Angle with me the whole time, so I don't think that will be necessary." She said. The captain nodded reluctantly.

"All right, if you find anything – and I mean _anything_ that you think will be helpful, you call me at this number." The captain said. "I'll make sure to get in touch with you tomorrow." Stephanie nodded, shaking his hand.

"Thank you, sir." She said. He nodded.

"Just remember what I said." He said. She nodded and turned to walk away with Kurt. When they were a decent distance from the captain, he spoke up.

"You do know that it's not possible to go back to your office and see if something stands out, right?" Kurt mumbled to her. Stephanie glanced at him.

"My work office, yes. But he might think that I'm talking about my home office." She told him.

"Are you?" Kurt asked her. She shook her head.

"No." She said. "I think that most of the clues that we're going to find to lead us to Randy are going to be around here." They reached the car and she pulled her door open.

"So where do we start?" Kurt asked her as they climbed in.

"I'm thinking that we need to head in the same direction as that second explosion was." She said. "I doubt if it was something either Randy or Bret wanted to happen, which makes me think that Chris was involved in it somehow."

"We still don't know how Shawn got free – or how he even knew how to find you." Kurt pointed out. She nodded.

"I know. But that's not quite as hard to figure out – he was working with Randy to try and get rid of Chris earlier today, you know." Stephanie said. Kurt paused for a moment.

"True. But he wasn't working with Bret." He said. "And Bret seemed to establish himself as the leader of the pack pretty quickly." Stephanie nodded.

"So what are we thinking?" She asked.

"I agree with checking out the second explosion, but I think that talking to the cops there is going to be a little challenging, since we just told the captain here that you were going back to your office." Kurt said.

"We'll worry about that when we get there." She said. "Let's just see what we can find out, first."

**10:47** "Yes, yes that sounds fine." Bret was saying into his cell phone as Kennedy walked up. "Yes. That would be great. Okay, thank you." He said, and then hung up. He turned to Kennedy.

"Mark's dead." Kennedy said. Bret looked at him for a second.

"_What_?" He asked sharply.

"Irvine shot him in the chest when Randy left the room to come talk to you earlier." Kennedy said.

"Why is it that I'm just now hearing about this?" Bret asked him, starting to walk back towards the church.

"I just heard about it five minutes ago," Kennedy said. "Randy hasn't said much since it happened."

"Where is he?" Bret asked him.

"Randy?" Kennedy asked.

"Yes, Randy! Who the hell else would I be talking about, Ken?" Bret snapped at him. Kennedy bit his tongue to keep from spitting out something that he might later regret.

"He's with Ted and Cody." Kennedy answered as he followed Bret into the decrepit church. He knew that Bret was completely pissed at the fact that Randy had reasserted his authority. Bret wasn't the type of person who liked to answer to anyone other than himself. Kennedy figured that Bret was playing along because Randy had promised him Shawn, although how exactly Randy was going to _get _Shawn remained to be seen.

**10:52 **Bret stormed down the steps and saw that Randy was standing behind Ted and Cody, who were watching three separate computer monitors. Randy didn't turn as he heard Bret approach.

"I assume you found out about Mark." Randy said, calmly.

"Why the **fuck** wasn't I told about this sooner?" Bret spat.

"Because there wasn't a whole lot to do about it after it happened." Randy said mildly.

"Yeah, well Mark was _my_ man!" Bret shouted. "I think that I deserve to know when _my people_ have been killed!"

"Yeah, and I think that I deserve a better explanation for why you killed two of my men before you assert your authority, but we don't always get what we want, do we?" Randy asked him sarcastically, finally turning to face Bret, whose face was a nice shade of crimson. Bret tried to grab Randy's arm, but Randy pulled away from him. They both stood there for a moment, staring each other down.

"Side room, now." Bret said to him, before walking down the hallway to the left and throwing open the first door that he came to. Randy followed him.

"Listen to me, you arrogant little punk." Bret started. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be here. You would still be serving that very long sentence for whatever it was that they wound up slapping you with. I spent a lot of money to get you out of there and I think that I deserve to be treated better than this." He said.

"Don't think that I've forgotten what you've done for me." Randy said. "I _haven't_. But if you think that you're going to be able to dangle that in front of my face every time you want to be in control of this situation, then you need to rethink your strategy. You might have paid for it, but this is _my _show." Randy told him. "Besides, I just heard from one of my contacts – Shawn is on his way here as we speak." Bret squinted his eyes at him.

"If you're bluffing me, Orton, I swear to God, I will kill you." Bret said to him.

"Fair enough." Randy said. "I'm expecting him within the next hour, so you can spend that time deciding how you want to kill me, if it really means that much to you." He said as Bret's phone went off. Bret pulled his phone out and flipped it open. He stared at the screen for a moment before getting an irritated look on his face.

"So this is your idea of efficiency?" Bret asked him, passing the phone to Randy to see.

**11:00** Randy's expression turned into a scowl as he read the message on the screen.


	15. 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM

**A/N: Well, I'm a little behind on this, but not as bad as I could be. A BIG hug and thanks to DCFanatic4life and TakerTakeMe for their wonderful and gracious reviews! Hopefully this chapter fills the void for a little bit, it's more of a stage-setting chapter than an action packed one, but I promise the next one is going to knock your socks off! Enjoy!**

**11:00PM-12:00AM**

**11:00** Ted and Cody turned back to their computer screens as they heard the door open again, pretending like they hadn't been listening to Randy and Bret's conversation.

"-judge of bad character never ceases to amaze me. Your entire team has been full of holes from the start." Bret was saying.

"Yeah, well, I'm fixing it now." Randy said to him, irritably. He turned to Ted and Cody.

"Ted, stand up." He said, pulling his gun from behind him. Ted started to hold his hands out in front of him.

"Whoa, whoa, Randy. What's going on?" Ted asked him. Randy cocked his gun.

"I'm tying up a loose end." He said, before taking aim at Cody and shooting him in the head. Ted flinched at the shot and it took him a moment to process that he wasn't dead. He looked back to Cody for a second and then over to Randy, who had lowered his gun.

"Cody fucked up on the trace – he's made us vulnerable. Can you fix that?" Randy asked him.

"I think so." Ted said to him.

"I need more than 'I think so', Ted." Randy warned him.

"Yes!" Ted said. "I can do it. I can fix it."

"Good." Randy said, handing Ted the phone. "If you don't manage to fix it within the next couple of minutes, the cops are going to be able to trace the signal straight back to us. And I don't have to tell you how unfortunate that would be." He said, but Ted was already sitting down and typing at the computer, working furiously to cover the digital tracks that Cody had left wide open for them. Randy turned back to Bret.

"How did your man figure this out?" He asked him. Bret smirked.

"My man is the chief of police." Bret said.

"So why not just have him sit on the guys who figured this out?" Randy asked him. "Why can't he take care of it on his end?"

"Because it's not part of his job and he doesn't need any more attention brought to him, Randy. Besides, the bastard would probably want more money out of it, and that's something I'm not willing to pay for." Bret explained to him. They both turned back to watch Ted, whose fingers were flying across the keyboard gracefully, millions of lines of code flashing in front of his face.

"Sir, we've started the trace!" a young deputy shouted to the captain from his position in the van. The captain ended his conversation and stepped up into the van.

"Good, let's nail these assholes." The captain said, putting his hands on his hips and standing behind the deputy as they watched the computer screen.

"Fuck." Ted mumbled. Randy stopped his pacing and looked to Ted.

"Fuck? That doesn't sound like good news, Ted." Randy said.

"Shut up, Randy." Ted said to him, furiously typing. His eyes shifted from line to line, squinting slightly.

"They've started the trace." Bret said. "You've got less than two minutes until they can get a lock on our position."

"I know that, _Bret_. Thank you." Ted snapped sarcastically. Bret smirked a little.

"They're less than 30 miles from our current location, captain." The deputy said. The captain nodded, turning to the men behind him.

"When we find the location of this signal, I want you all ready to move." The captain warned them. The men nodded. He turned to the officer who had just entered the van. "Get Ms. McMahon on the phone for me again, will you?" He asked him. The officer nodded and walked away again.

"Come on Ted." Randy said, putting his hands on the back of Ted's chair. Ted punched a few more keys and then sat back from the computer.

"There! It's done!" He said.

"Where do they think that the signal's coming from?" Randy asked.

"I had to redirect the signal to make it seem like it was coming from Barbie's since that's where the source of the signal originally was. When they get there and storm the house, I can mask our current signal and make it seem like the connection was lost and they'll think they're in the clear." Ted said. Randy looked at him for a moment and then smiled, clapping him on the back.

"Good work, Ted." Randy said appreciatively.

"Got it!" The deputy said enthusiastically. "1476 Sprigg Street. That's about 20 miles from here." The captain nodded and hopped out of the van to address the team of men standing in a semi-circle outside of the van.

"All right, gentlemen, we have the location. It's 1476 Sprigg Street. I want you all in the standard flanking position when we get there and be ready to move in with everything we've got." The men nodded and headed to their vehicles.

"Sir! We have her on the line." The officer came running up to him, holding a cell phone. The captain strapped his bulletproof vest on and took the phone from him.

"Ms. McMahon?" He answered.

"Yes, captain, you have news?" Stephanie asked.

"We've managed to track the location of a signal that was interfering with our radios - we think that your son may have been taken back to this location. You're the only person who knows what these people look like first hand, so I'd like for you to be there with us after we complete our raid of the location. Do you think you'd be able to do that?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Stephanie said hurriedly. "Where do I need to be?" She asked him.

"I don't want you to be there until after we've already checked the area out." The captain said. "The address is 1476 Sprigg Street. It's about 20 miles east from the warehouse. I'll call you when we're about to go in, don't go there until you get my call." He warned.

"I won't." She promised.

"We'll be in touch." He said, before hanging up. Stephanie hung up as well.

"What was that about?" Kurt asked her.

"They located the signal that was interfering with their radios. They think that might be where they took Ash." Stephanie said. "They want me to be there after they raid the place to make ids. I'm supposed to wait for their call to head over."

"What's the address?" Kurt asked.

"1476 Sprigg Street."

"Sprigg?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, do you know it?" Stephanie asked him. Kurt snorted.

"Who doesn't? That's Barbie's house." He said. Stephanie turned to him.

"Barbie?" She asked him. "Barbie as in the Barbie that Randy was dating for a while Barbie?" Kurt nodded before his mouth fell open.

"Oh my God." He said. "The whole time. She was under our noses the whole time."

"Start going there, Kurt." Stephanie told him.

"What? No, the captain told you to wait, and that's what we're going to do." Kurt said firmly.

"Kurt, if there's a chance that Ash and Chris are there, I want to be there when this happens." She told him. "I want to know they're okay."

"You can know after they raid the place." Kurt said.

"Kurt!" Stephanie shouted. "Please." She pleaded with him. Kurt looked at her for a few moments before sighing.

"You're lucky that I care so much about you." He said to her.

**11:23** _"Daddy!" Ash shouted. "Daddy, come see! Come see what I can do!" He shouted, grabbing Chris by the hand and trying to drag him outside. _

"_Okay, okay, okay. I'm coming." Chris laughed, looking back at Stephanie, who had a knowing smile on her face. She dusted her hands off and followed them outside. Ash let go of his father's hand and ran over to his bike, hopping on and turning around to make sure that Chris was watching. _

"_Are you watching?" Ash asked him. _

"_I'm ready, champ." Chris said to him, a grin on his face. Ash pushed off from the ground and started to pedal on his bike down the driveway and carefully out into the street. Stephanie walked up to Chris and snaked her arm around his waist. _

"_He's doing really well." Chris commented to her. "Pretty soon, I'll have to take those training wheels off for him."_

"_They're already off, Chris." Stephanie said to him. He turned to her for a second, wrinkling his brow and then looking back at Ash's bike as he pedaled back towards them._

"_I'll be damned. They are." Chris commented. "When was he able to ride without them?"_

"_A few weeks ago. He wanted to be able to show you himself." Stephanie said, smiling. "He's just like his father."_

"_Daddy, did you see?" Ash yelled, pedaling to a stop near where he had taken off. Chris walked over to him and picked him up._

"_You bet I did!" Chris said. "You were awesome! How did you learn to ride a bike so good?" Chris asked him. _

"_Mommy showed me." Ash answered. Chris shot a look over at Steph. _

"_Oh she did, did she?" He asked, winking at her as Ash nodded seriously._

"_Daddy, make me fly." Ash said, wiggling in Chris's arms. _

"_Make you fly?" Chris asked him. "I don't know if Daddy can do that today."_

"_Awww, come on Daddy. Please?!" Ash begged him. Chris laughed. _

"_Oh all right." He said, shifting Ash to where he was sitting on Chris's shoulders. Ash put his hands out to either side like an airplane as Chris held on to his knees._

"_Ground control, this is Alpha-Tango-Gulf-niner-niner requesting permission to take off." Chris said in his best walkie-talkie voice. _

"_Alpha-Tango-Gulf-niner-niner, this is ground control, you have permission. Have a good flight." Stephanie said. Chris held on to Ash's legs as he started to run around the front yard, making plane noises as Ash giggled._

"_Faster Daddy!" Ash urged him. "Faster!"_

_When Chris turned around again, Ash was no longer on his shoulders, but holding hands with someone and crossing the road to walk away from him. _

"_Ash?" Chris asked and he suddenly realized who was holding Ash's hand. _

_Randy Orton._

"_Ash!" Chris screamed, running for the road. "Get away from him!" Ash had stopped and turned to look at him, Randy still holding on to his hand. Chris glanced to the left and saw a car coming towards them._

"_Ash, get out of the road! Get out of the road!" He shouted. He was still running towards them, but he seemed to be making no progress at all. Ash still seemed the same distance away that he was before. He heard the squalling tires of the car as they tried to stop for the little boy, Randy's sinister face brightening with a smile as the inevitable thud came._

Chris jolted himself awake and winced. He let his head fall back against the cool stones that lined the floor and tried to calm himself. What had started out as a wonderful memory of his life before everything had gone to hell had quickly turned into a terrible nightmare with Randy's sadistic grin plastered in it. Chris laid there for a few moments, trying to clear his head when a cold fear started to creep in on him.

Randy had just had one of the best opportunities yet to kill him and he didn't. Randy had strangled him until he had effectively blacked out – why not hold on for a few seconds longer and finish the job? Chris could vaguely remember Randy getting up and leaving the room. He supposed it could be possible that someone had _called_ Randy out of the room, but he didn't think that Randy would stop so suddenly to meet them.

When they first got here, Randy had promised to make this feel like it was never going to end – that it would last as long as the six years that Randy spent in his cell planning this whole event. Randy must have had to stop himself – there had to be something else that he had planned, something…bigger.

His mind started to suggest something, but he stopped it. He didn't want to think about it. He prayed that it wasn't going to be what he thought. He prayed that Randy wouldn't stoop that low and then he closed his eyes again, thinking that if that was the case, he wished he was already dead.

**11:37** Kurt slowed to a stop in front of the darkened house and turned the car off.

"I don't know Steph." Kurt said, looking at the house. "I don't think that they're here."

"Well, that's where he said the signal was coming from." Stephanie said, staring at the house as well. They both watched on in silence, and they heard the sirens getting louder in the distance.

"Something's not right, Kurt." Stephanie said. "Something doesn't feel right about all of this. Randy's not stupid enough to leave his tracks uncovered to where anyone could come in and find him. And on top of that, like you said, there doesn't seem to be anyone in this house." Kurt nodded.

"Well, maybe they're in the basement?" He suggested. Stephanie thought about it for a second and then shook her head.

"No…where are their vehicles? There's no garage on this house – Barbie's car is right there." Stephanie pointed out. The flashing lights from the cop cars finally came into view as they swung around the corner.

"Looks like we're gonna find out." Kurt said, watching as a SWAT team jumped out of the van that followed behind the patrol car and took off towards the house. They wasted no time in busting the door down and storming inside with their weapons ready. Kurt looked at Stephanie.

"It's like watching an episode of Cops." He said, smirking. Stephanie didn't smile. She kept watching out the window and waiting to hear the inevitable gunshots that would happen if Randy and his crew were really there. The seconds seemed like hours as she waited for the team to re-emerge with nothing or, for the firefight to begin. These endless moments of silence filled with red and blue flashing lights were driving her insane.

After a few more tortuous minutes, one of the members of the SWAT team came back out of the house, giving the all-clear signal. Stephanie felt her heart sink.

"We're not going to find them in time, are we, Kurt?" She asked him, tears threatening to fall from her face. Kurt wrapped an arm around her.

"We can't give up hope just yet, Steph. You know Chris. He's a resilient bastard." Kurt said, smiling. Stephanie snorted, letting the corners of her mouth turn up. Kurt's phone began to ring. He fished it out and handed it to her.

"I think it's probably the captain calling for you again." Kurt said. Stephanie nodded, wiping at her eyes quickly before flipping the phone open.

"Hello?"

"Ms. McMahon?" The captain's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Yes, Captain Ludlow, is that you?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid we weren't as successful as we originally thought we might be. The house is empty. We didn't find anyone inside." Captain Ludlow said, pacing around on the front step of Barbie's house. "My deputies tell me that the signal that was emanating from this house seems to have vanished. Might be some sort of self-defense mechanism." He stopped for a moment, squinting through the darkness.

"Ms. McMahon, are you in the sedan sitting in front of this house?" He asked her. Stephanie made a surprised sound.

"Well, yes Captain, I am." She admitted. He shook his head.

"I thought I told you not to come here until I called you?" He asked her, walking over towards the car. She opened the door and got out before hanging up.

"I'm sorry Captain, but you were performing a raid on a house that might have contained my husband and my son." She said.

"I thought you had an ex-husband?" The captain asked her. She gave him a blank look for a second and then shook her head.

"Yes, he's…he is my ex-husband…" she said. "I'm hoping we can reconcile." The captain nodded.

"Well, I applaud you for your resolve to your marriage. But I still warned you to stay away from here. It could have been dangerous." He told her. Kurt got out of the car and walked around to join them as the captain's walkie-talkie went off.

"I know that, sir, and I apologize." Stephanie said. "I was really just concerned." The captain took a deep breath and nodded.

"I've read your file. I can understand." He said to her, before looking away to answer his walkie-talkie's call. His eyes shifted to the ground in front of their car and his brow furrowed. He walked over and hunched down with his flashlight to get a better look at what was on the ground.

"Get the forensics team over to my position now." The captain radioed in.

"What is it?" Stephanie asked him, stepping around to see some splotches of blood on the pavement, mixed with what looked to be…blond hair. She put a hand over her mouth.

"No." she breathed.

"Walk her away from here." The captain told Kurt. Kurt wrapped an arm around her and started walking her over to the van that the SWAT team had emerged from.

"Kurt…" she whispered, and Kurt wrapped his arm around her tighter.

"I know, Steph. I know." He said.

"What if…what if it's from Ash?" She asked him. "What if it was Chris?"

"What if it's not?" Kurt asked her. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and they stood over by the van as the forensics team worked their magic.

**11:49** John stepped out of his car and slammed the door shut. He absently lit up a cigarette as he watched Randy walk down the front steps of the church towards him.

"How'd you do?" Randy asked him. John smiled as he exhaled the smoke.

"Two for the price of one, I'd say that's pretty good." John said. Randy nodded, clapping him on the back.

"Are they in the car?" Randy asked. John nodded, taking a long drag from the cigarette.

"They're all yours when you give me the money." John promised. Kennedy whistled from over by the steps. John turned and Kennedy tossed him a paper bag. He caught it and started to open it.

"Two hundred thousand, as agreed, with a slight bonus for getting them both." Randy said, smiling. John nodded his appreciation and stuffed the money into his jacket. He opened the back door and Randy motioned for Kennedy to come over and help him. Randy smiled at the sight of Shawn sprawled out in the back seat of the car with a nasty bruise forming on the side of his face.

"What did you do to him?" Randy asked. John smiled.

"I hit him in the face with a tire iron. Son of a bitch was being nosy, and I figured he was getting suspicious. So I blasted him." John said, taking another puff. Randy helped Kennedy to get Shawn out of the backseat and then let Kennedy carry him into the church.

"So where's the kid?" Randy asked him. John waved him off, pulling the keys from his pocket. He walked around to the back of the car and unlocked the trunk. He raised the lid and then stepped back. Randy walked around to stand in front of the trunk and could stop himself from beaming when he saw Ash sleeping in the trunk, bound with duct tape covering his mouth, the day's events just too much for the small boy to handle staying awake. Randy gingerly pulled him out of the trunk, cradling him in his arms.

"Thanks for your help, John." Randy said. John nodded, slamming the trunk shut.

**11:59 **"No problem." He said, throwing his cigarette down and stepping on it before climbing back into his car. Randy made his way back into the church, staring down at the child in his arms, almost quivering with excitement for what was coming next.

**12:00**


	16. 12:00 to 1:00 AM

**A/N: Thanks, as always, to DCFanatic4Life and TakerTakeMe for their fantabulous reviews. (Oh yeah, I just said that - fantabulous reviews!) For those of you not willing to wear socks this chapter because of my warning earlier, I can now only tell you that this chapter should have you on the edge of your seat most of the time. :) Don't hate me for where this chapter ends... I promise to try and have the next one up in about a week. With that, I hope you all enjoy the next chapter of Gone.**

**12:00-1:00AM**

**12:00** Randy smiled at Ash sleeping in his arms, part of him wishing that Chris was able to see him like this, knowing that it would send Chris over the edge. For a moment he was tempted to walk in to the room that Chris was in and show him, but decided to let Bret have his fun first. He walked down the stairs behind the pulpit and saw Bret dragging Shawn off in the same direction that Chris's room was. Randy turned to Kennedy, handing Ash over to him.

"Take him to an empty room for now." Randy told him. "Sit with him and let me know when he wakes up." Kennedy nodded and walked over to the opposite hallway, in the room Randy and Bret spoke in earlier. Randy turned to Ted.

"Is the video equipment up?" Randy asked him. Ted nodded.

"Everything's ready."

"Good." Randy said. "If you see any problems, send Ken in. He's in the other room with Ash for now."

"Will do." Ted said, and Randy walked down to follow Bret. He pushed the door open as Bret dumped some water on Shawn to wake him up. Chris was sitting up in the corner, not far from where Randy had left him. He grabbed a chair and sat in front of the door to watch. Bret slapped Shawn a couple of times to try and get him to come around. Shawn blinked a couple of times and finally started to wake up.

**12:04 **"There he comes." Bret said to him, smiling. "Did you really think you were going to get away that easily, Shawn?" Bret asked.

"Go to hell." Shawn spat at him, his hand running over the bruise on his face from the tire iron. Bret laughed.

"I find that funny coming from you." Bret said to him, squatting down in front of him. Bret looked over at Chris for a moment.

"You know Chris we never got to finish our conversation from earlier, did we?" Bret mused. "About how you and I are really quite similar." He paused for a moment to glance at Shawn and stand up. He walked over to where he was standing almost in the middle of the room so he could watch both Shawn and Chris at the same time. He grabbed a chair that was leaning up against the wall and unfolded it to sit down.

"You see, Chris, I wasn't always like this. I wasn't always so heartless and calculating." Bret started. "Shawn _made_ me that way. And it wasn't just about that World Title I lost either."

"Before Montreal, I was a happy guy. I was happy working for Vince, happy with my wife, my career and everything else that I'd accomplished. Hell, I was even okay with working with Shawn. I wouldn't say we were best friends or anything of the sort, but we were at least civil towards each other. But that didn't last for long, did it Shawn?" Bret asked, looking at Shawn who was pulling himself into a sitting position. Shawn glared at him. Bret went on.

"Shawn and I had quite a few programs together before the Montreal incident, and we performed quite well with each other, even if his work ethic was less than stellar. I never cared much for Shawn the person, but Shawn the performer was one in a million. No one could deny him that." Bret said. "Not even my wife."

"Yes, Shawn was a great performer all right, and the one place he just couldn't resist performing was a bedroom. Anything that had two legs and a pair of boobs was fair game for Shawn – it didn't matter if they were married or not. This is where our story becomes the same, Chris."

"I came home one night unexpectedly – Vince had given me the night off to help tend to some minor injuries – and found my wife bent over the kitchen table with this bastard slamming into the back of her!" Bret shouted, standing up - the anger of the memory finally finding its way out.

"Hey, I didn't give her anything she didn't want." Shawn defended. Bret punched him in the face, and shook his hand out for a second.

"Not only that, Chris, but he took my title," he said, kicking Shawn in the stomach. "He took my career, my spotlight…he took it all from me. He even tried to have me killed so that my wife wouldn't have the chance to come back to me."

"So I let him think that he succeeded." Bret said, turning back to Shawn. "I let him think that he got away with it. He and Rebecca moved on and even had a little family. He made himself a born-again Christian – as if doing that would make him feel better about himself. I wanted to wait until he least expected it, and then I was going to rip the rug out from underneath him and leave him with nothing. Just as I was getting ready to do just that – Hunter stepped in."

"Hunter started to sleep around with Rebecca, and she finally lost what little sanity she had left. Shawn had her committed to keep her away from Cameron, but Hunter, with my help, was able to get her out. She killed Cameron and later killed herself, leaving Shawn all alone." Bret said in a pouty voice. "And somewhere in between there, his holy ways appeared to vanish and he started to hone in on your happiness Chris. The Shawn Hickenbottom that you thought was your friend…he doesn't exist. He was just another one of those stage faces that Shawn puts on so well. It's almost ironic how we've come full circle. Wouldn't you say so, Shawn?"

Shawn remained silent, and waited for Bret to walk over to him. When he was within reach, Shawn swung his legs out and tripped Bret to where he stumbled against the wall. Randy rose out of the chair and pulled his gun right as Shawn grabbed Bret's. They both aimed it at each other and Randy found himself shaking his head at the similarity between this situation and the one between himself and Chris earlier.

"There's nowhere for you to go, Shawn." Randy said as Bret stood back up. Shawn started to back away from Bret, standing over by Chris. Chris followed his movements with his gaze.

"There are plenty of places for me to go. There're enough bullets in this gun to kill everyone in this room, and whoever else you've got here. I can get away again and you all –" Shawn's sentence was cut off as he fell to the ground clutching his knee in pain. Chris moved himself back into his corner position and tried to keep the slight smile off of his face as Randy and Bret tied him up, taking the gun away from him. Shawn glared at him from his position on the floor a little distance away from him as Randy and Bret stepped out for a few moments to plan their next move.

**12:18 **"You son of a bitch – why did you kick me? I could've taken care of both of them! We could've escaped!" Shawn shouted at Chris. Chris kept his gaze even with Shawn's.

"Do you really expect me to believe you after everything you've done to me today?" Chris asked him. "Consider that a little payback for leaving me in the car."

"You pissed away the best chance we've had to get rid of Randy and Bret because of a disagreement?" Shawn asked him.

"Disagreement? _Disagreement?_" Chris shouted. "Are you fucking _kidding_ me? Trying to have me killed is not a God damn disagreement Shawn!"

"I did not try to have you killed!" Shawn insisted.

"Oh shut the fuck up!" Chris yelled at him. "I know all about your alliance with Randy to get rid of me so that Steph would have no choice but to be with you!"

"You're delirious!" Shawn shouted. "You're turning Bret's story into your own so you have more of a reason to be pissed at me!"

"My life was Bret's story before he even told it!" Chris shouted. "Jesus Christ, Shawn! I thought you actually gave a damn about someone besides yourself, but after today I know differently. Even though you slept with Stephanie and I was pissed at you for it, I wanted to believe that at least you made her happy. At least you cared about her."

"I do!"

"No you **don't**! You only care about having another notch in your bedpost! Just one more challenge to mark off the list! You don't give a damn about Stephanie _or_ Ash! You just needed someone to plunge into since your hand was getting tired!"

"You can make this out to be my fault all you want, Chris, but you better remember that it takes two to tango, bud. She could have said no at any time and she didn't." Shawn pointed out.

"But **she** didn't plan to have me killed!" Chris shouted.

"Well I wouldn't have had to either if you would have finished the job yourself!" Shawn shouted. Chris set his jaw. "Hell, I was standing inside your apartment door, waiting to hear the shot!" Chris looked at him. "Oh yeah, I was across the street when I saw you walk in and buy the gun. You were too busy thinking about it to notice me follow you home. You were so preoccupied you didn't even lock your door. I was standing ten feet from you when you pressed it against your head. I could see your face reflected in that mirror on the wall, and the tears running down. And I couldn't help but wish that you would pull the trigger and make all of my problems disappear." Shawn said. Chris's face was unreadable. "But you couldn't do it, could you? You chickened out at the last second and threw the gun across the room as I left." Chris stared at him for a few moments before finally speaking.

"I hope that Bret rips your spine out through your throat." Chris said quietly, his voice quivering with anger. "And I hope you rot in hell for everything you've done to me." Shawn laughed at him.

"The feeling's mutual, _pal_." Shawn told him.

**12:29** "Here's that jacket you asked for." One of the policemen said, handing a jacket to Kurt. "It's a little heavier than a normal one, since it's a flak jacket, but it'll still keep her warm."

"Thanks." Kurt said, walking back over to Stephanie with the jacket in hand. He had no idea what the hell a flak jacket was, but to him a jacket was a jacket. He offered it to her and she pulled it on, mumbling her thanks. The results had already come back that the blonde hair didn't belong to either Chris or Ash, but the police were at a loss as to what to do next. The signal they'd been tracing had disappeared when they raided the house, and there were no leads left to follow up on.

"We've been talking to some of the neighbors, one of them said they heard a shot and looked out the window. They managed to make out most of the license plate before it sped off." One of the deputies was saying to the captain. The captain nodded.

"I don't think we're going to find anything, but go ahead and run the plates. See if you can get a name and address of an owner." The captain said. The deputy nodded and ran off to do the search. The captain sighed and Stephanie looked down at her hands.

She wished that there was something she could do to help, but the truth of the matter was that there was nothing she could do. Their best lead to finding Chris and Ash had just been followed up on and they hadn't gotten anything out of it. Randy had seemingly left no trace of where he went to. Shawn hadn't tried to contact her since his first call, which she was secretly glad for, and there was no more evidence to go on. The captain seemed optimistic that there might be some kind of digital signature they could take from the computer and trace, but it sounded like kind of a long shot to Stephanie.

She was glad that Kurt was there with her – having someone else sit with her through this was helping her keep her sanity. Her hope of finding Chris and Ash wavered as time went on, but she wasn't giving up on them. Not this time. She jumped a little as Kurt's cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She stood up to answer it.

"Hello?"

"If you want to see your son again, you need to follow my instructions exactly." A distorted voice came from the other end. "Say hello again if you understand." Stephanie's heart leapt into her throat and she couldn't form the word at first.

"Hello?" She asked again.

"Good." The voice said. "Now walk a few steps away from Kurt, and claim that it has something to do with the reception." Kurt was staring at Stephanie and she looked up at him.

"I can't really hear here, I'm gonna walk over there." She said pointing to a spot about 15 feet away. Kurt nodded and turned back to watch the police. Stephanie walked away from him.

"Where is my son?" She hissed at the person on the other end.

"He's safe."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked.

"You don't." it said. "But is ignoring me a gamble you're willing to take?" Stephanie sighed.

"No."

"Good." It said. "Now listen – you must follow my instructions exactly, or your son dies. If you say anything about this to the police or Kurt, he dies. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Stephanie said.

"Okay. At precisely 1:15, you need to be in a car at the corner of Bloomfield and William. It's in the subdivision that you're in now. The keys are in the visor on the passenger side. It's unlocked."

"What do I need to do when I get there?" Stephanie asked.

"Wait. I will call you with further instructions at that time. Make sure that no one sees you leave. Remember – no one else should know about this. If you tell the police, I'll know." The voice told her, and then hung up. Stephanie closed the phone. She turned around and walked back to Kurt. He raised his eyebrow at her.

"Who was on the phone?" He asked her.

"Hmm?" She mumbled, distracted.

"I asked who was on the phone." Kurt repeated.

"Oh, nobody…it was a wrong number." Stephanie said. Kurt nodded and stared at her for a second. For some reason he thought that she was lying to him, but he decided not to press it. Whatever it was would wind up surfacing sooner or later.

**12:47** Bret shoved Shawn into the room across the hall from Chris and Randy shut the door for him. Bret was beaming as he rolled up the sleeves to his shirt.

"This is going to put a smile on my face so wide it'll have to be surgically removed from my face." Bret promised him. Shawn started to try and push himself up and Bret kicked him in the stomach. Shawn coughed and rolled over to his side and Bret kicked him again.

"You have no idea how many times I dreamed about this, Shawn." Bret told him. "There is nothing in this world that makes me happier than seeing you wince and cry like the baby that you are." Bret kicked him in the face before he had the chance to say something back. The blow broke Shawn's nose and there was blood spurting out across his face and his chest instantly.

"Already starting to bleed?" Bret asked him. "Shawn, you're taking all of the fun out of it." He squatted down next to him.

"Why don't you just do it?" Shawn asked him. "If you're still pissed at me for taking your wife, why don't you finally pull the trigger and shoot me?" Bret beamed at him.

"Oh I will Shawn, without a doubt." Bret promised him. "But first, you're going to pay. You're going to pay for being the two-faced, _fake _bastard that the world refuses to see."

"Ooh!" Randy and Ted exclaimed together as they watched Bret kick Shawn in the face again.

"Looks like I'm going to miss a good show." Randy commented. "But, it's time I started in on Chris. We're wasting daylight, otherwise." Ted nodded. Randy walked down the hallway once more and opened the door to Chris's cell. Chris glanced up briefly as Randy entered the room. He could hear the grunts of pain from the other room.

"Guess this means I got invited to the party, too, huh?" Chris asked him. Randy smirked at him. "I'm surprised you didn't finish me off earlier. Did you have a hot date?"

"Sadly, no. I got a little overzealous earlier and almost spoiled the fun." Randy said. "Wouldn't want you to go down without a good story, would we?" Chris snorted.

"So where do you plan on starting?" Chris asked him. "Are you going to beat me to a pulp? Put me in a submission hold until I pass out and wake me up to do it again? Because, no offense, but that's all pretty much been done before." Randy smiled at him.

"Oh I know Chris. I know what you've been through. Or maybe you've forgotten that I was with you every time your life spun out of control?" Randy asked him.

"So what new tortuous device are you planning to unveil, Randy?" Chris asked. "I have to say that I'm not really one for surprises."

"All in due time, Chris. All in due time." Randy told him. "First, I have to ask you something."

"**You** want to ask **me** something?" Chris repeated. Randy nodded. "Oh this ought to be good…what do you want to know?

"How much do you love your son, Chris?" Randy asked him. Chris's expression darkened.

"Why?" he asked. Randy's walkie-talkie warbled.

"Randy." Kennedy's voice came through. Randy smiled and answered.

"Yes?"

"He's ready." He said. Randy beamed.

"Bring him down to Chris's room." Randy said. "A father's love is something that I know little about, Chris. You see, my father was always on the road when I was a kid. Not that he didn't love me any less because of it, but he definitely wasn't around to give me that father-son bond that most people are fortunate enough to experience."

"So I want to do a little experiment." Randy said. "I want to know how strong a father's love really is." He said as there was a knock on the door. Chris felt his chest tighten. He was bluffing – he had to be. There was no way that Ash could be with them, he was with Stephanie.

"_Oh, God, please don't let it be him…please don't let it be him…"_ Chris thought. Randy closed the door and brought the young boy into view, with Kennedy stepping in behind him. Chris felt sick to his stomach and tried not to let it show on his face. Randy had his hands on Ash's shoulders – the duct tape still around his hands and on his mouth, tears were running down his cheeks as he tried to call out for his daddy.

"Randy…" Chris growled. "I swear to God…"

"What?" Randy asked him. "What do you swear, Chris?"

"If you hurt him…I'll rip your fucking heart out of your goddamn chest." Chris threatened him. Randy got a surprised look on his face and covered Ash's ears.

"Chris!" Randy scolded. "Such language around the youngster!"

"He has nothing to do with this Randy!" Chris shouted.

"He has _everything_ to do with this!" Randy countered. "You destroyed my life – I'm destroying yours. And what better place to start than your family?" Chris started to make like he was going to get up when Randy pulled his gun and pushed it into Ash's temple.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Chris." Randy warned him. "You move so much as a millimeter, and I'll splatter his brains so fast it'll make Barbie look like slow motion." Chris set his jaw. "Ken, why don't you move over there and hold Chris down? I get the feeling he's going to have a hard time sitting still for this next part."

**12:58 **Kennedy walked over and put his hands on Chris's shoulders, effectively grounding him and keeping him from jumping up to tackle Randy.

"Do you have a good grip on him?" Randy asked. Kennedy nodded.

"Randy, **don't you do it**! Don't you fucking touch him!" Chris screamed, wiggling under Ken's grasp.

"Daddy…." Ash whined through the duct tape. Chris felt like his heart was being wrenched out from him.

"No, Randy! Just let him go! **Damn it!** I'm _warning_ you!" Chris threatened. Randy knelt to where he was eye level with Ash and then turned to Chris.

**1:00 **"I'll consider myself warned." He said, grabbing hold of Ash's wrist and snapping it sharply to the left – breaking it.


	17. 1:00 to 2:00 AM

**A/N: Wow, sorry this took so long. Finals week came up, then my computer freaked out and lost the first version of this chapter...but it's all okay now. As always, a big thanks to DCFanatic4Life and TakerTakeMe for their fabulous reviews of both this story and my most recent oneshot, "The Corner of First and Amistad." [Point taken on the shooting Stephanie comment, by the way. :)] And another big thanks to Alliegirl4Life. Your reviews are greatly appreciated! Now that I've taken up enough of your time by writing this, I hope you enjoy the chapter. **

**1:00-2:00AM**

**1:00 **Chris was livid. There was no better word to describe it.

Chris could picture all too well grabbing Randy by his neck and strangling him until his eyes popped out of his head…or ripping Randy apart with his bare hands. Up until this point, Chris _thought_ that he had understood the meaning of words like "anger" and "rage," especially with all of the horrendous things that had happened to him and Stephanie. But he realized that those things _paled_ in comparison to the emotions running amok inside of him at the sight of his son at this moment. His son, his own flesh and blood, was in danger – was being tortured – and he was powerless to stop it.

Nothing had _**ever**_ angered him more.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!!" Chris shouted over Ash's screams, fighting against Kennedy. "Oh, you son of a **BITCH!**" Randy turned to him and smiled. Tears were streaming down Ash's face and he was shaking. "I'm gonna fucking **kill** you!" Chris bellowed.

"Not likely." Randy said, keeping a tight grip on Ash's shoulder. Chris screamed in frustration, trying to get away from Kennedy. Randy cocked his gun and pointed it at Ash's temple. Ash's screams turned into horrified shrieks.

"You have five seconds to stop before I pull the trigger, Chris." Randy said calmly. Chris wiggled a few more times and then stopped moving. He clenched his jaw as tight as he could to keep from saying anything that would set Randy off. Randy nodded in approval.

"Good job." He said, moving the gun away from Ash. He turned to Ash. "Do you promise not to scream if I take this tape off?" He asked Ash. Ash stared at Randy for a second before looking over to Chris. Chris nodded that it was okay. Ash nodded his head quickly. Randy reached up and gently pulled the tape from his mouth.

"Daddy…" Ash said, his voice cracking from his tears. "Daddy." Chris's eyes started to water, and he willed himself not to cry at the sight of his son. Instead he swallowed back his own fears and took a deep breath.

"It's ok, Ash. It'll be okay." Chris tried to calm his son.

"Daddy…it h-hurts." Ash stuttered. Chris nodded.

"I know it does…I know, but you have to be big and brave for Daddy, okay? I know this is going to be really hard, but I need you to pretend like it doesn't hurt. Will you try that?" Chris asked him.

"Touching, Chris." Randy commented.

"Shut up." Chris said, never moving his gaze from his son.

"I'll try." Ash promised. "I wanna go home, Daddy." Chris nodded.

"I know, baby." Randy nodded to Kennedy, who pulled Chris back to his feet.

"So what should I break next, Chris?" Randy asked him. "I don't think that his wrist was enough for me to satisfy my curiosity."

"Don't you dare, you asshole." Chris warned him. Randy grabbed one of Ash's fingers.

"A finger maybe? How about the pointer?" Randy asked, wiggling Ash's pointer finger. "His pinky?"

"Dad-_dy._" Ash whined, in between his sobbing gasps.

"God **damn it** Randy! Leave him alone! It's _**me**_ you want, not **him**!" Chris screamed. "He's _**just a boy**_!"

"He's not just **a** boy, Chris. He's _**your**_boy. Your sins are being passed to him now." Randy told him. "I think the ring finger will do nicely, don't you?" He asked, grabbing Ash's finger and getting ready to snap it when suddenly his walkie-talkie interrupted.

"Randy." Ted's voice came over the walkie-talkie. "Randy, come in." Randy kept his grip for a moment longer, looking at Chris and then released his hold to answer the walkie-talkie.

"What is it, Ted?" Randy snapped.

"It's raining, Randy." Ted's voice came back. Randy got a bewildered look on his face.

"You interrupted me to say that it's fucking raining outside?" Randy demanded.

"Yeah, well we have a problem because of it." Ted said.

"What is it?" Randy asked.

"The church is leaking, Randy. We're taking on water and the equipment" -static started to block out part of what Ted was saying- "Stephanie with could be damaged." Chris's head snapped up at the mention of Stephanie's name.

"What have you done?" Chris asked him. "What have you done to Stephanie?" Randy ignored him.

"All right Ted, give me a second." Randy said. He let go of Ash and walked towards Chris and Kennedy. "Let's secure him to the wall over here." Randy said.

"What about the kid?" Kennedy asked.

"We'll leave him in here. Give him a little chance to say goodbye to his _father_." Randy said, making a face at Chris. Randy and Kennedy started to drag him over towards the wall, and Chris started resisting. Randy sighed irritably and pulled his gun out once more, aiming it at Ash, who was on the other side of the room.

"Listen to me, Chris. I'm not fucking around. You either let us attach you to this wall and enjoy a few more hours alive with your son, or you watch him die right here right now because you're too goddamn stubborn to do what you're told. What's it gonna be?" Randy asked him. Chris settled down begrudgingly and glared at Randy as he and Kennedy chained his handcuffs to an iron hook protruding from the wall.

"There." Randy said, patting the chain. "That will do nicely." He said, smiling. He lowered himself to be eye level with Chris.

"Whatever little plan your mind is getting ready to think up, you might as well just drop it now. I have cameras in this room, and I can see everything that you do. Don't think that I won't be watching them while I'm out there." He said lowly. "Because I _promise_ you, Chris – if you fuck with me, I'll kill him right in front of you. And it won't be from just a bullet in the head, understand?" Chris continued to glare at him.

"Yeah." Chris said. "I understand."

"Good." Randy said, turning to Kennedy. "Let's go." They started towards the door and Ash ran over to Chris, burying his face in his father's chest.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Chris." Randy told him, before leaving the room. Ted was waiting for him in the hallway.

"So what's wrong with the equipment?" Randy asked him, starting to walk back to his control center.

"It's shorting out. There has to be a wire exposed somewhere, either that or it's leaking in a place we didn't scout out earlier." Ted said.

"Wonderful." Randy muttered. "So the equipment that we're monitoring Stephanie with…?"

"It's holding on. I don't know for how much longer, though." Ted admitted. "The audio seems like it's going to be the first to go." He said, standing in front of the computers. He toggled through a few screens and brought up a diagnostics page. Randy nodded.

"All right. I can deal with letting the audio go out, as long as we maintain a visual on her and make her _think_ that we can hear everything, we should still be in the clear." Randy said.

**1:08** Stephanie glanced behind her as she quickly walked away from the vehicle that she'd been standing by. She'd waited for what seemed like forever before Kurt finally occupied himself with something. She figured it would be easier to get away without having to explain herself to him. Not like she could tell him the real reason she was leaving anyway, if she was to believe what the caller had told her earlier.

She stepped off of the curb and quickly walked across the street and out of the direct view of the cops, glancing at her watch. She knew that the car was supposed to be up and around this corner – she only hoped that she wasn't making the wrong choice. She honestly didn't know what else she _could_ do, though. She wasn't going to risk her son's life because she was too scared for her own. She rounded the corner finally and saw it. She started to run for the car and quickly made it to the passenger side, pulling the door open and grabbing the keys from under the visor, like she was told to. She took a step back and slammed the door shut.

"Going somewhere?" Kurt asked her, standing on the opposite side of the car. Stephanie jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Kurt! What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I could say the same about you." He commented. "Where are you going, Steph?" Stephanie swallowed. "Whose car is this?"

"Kurt, please." She started. "Don't ask me any questions. Just turn around and walk away." She told him. He gave her a look.

"You know I can't do that. I'm not going to let you go off somewhere on your own – especially with your son being kidnapped." Kurt told her. Stephanie glanced at her watch again.

**1:14** "Kurt please, I don't have time for this." She told him. "I can't explain what's going on right now. I just need you to trust me and leave." Kurt walked around the car and stood in front of her.

"I promised Chris that I was going to look after you and Ash, Stephanie. I've already let him down once today - don't ask me to do it again." Kurt told her. "Let me help you." Stephanie felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"I can't." She told him as the phone started to ring.

"It wasn't just a wrong number, was it?" He asked her. She looked at him. "They demanded something from you, didn't they?" He continued.

"Kurt." She warned, the phone ringing again.

"What do they want you to do, Steph?" Kurt asked her. She shook her head as he took a step towards her. Stephanie flung the passenger door open and managed to hit Kurt in the face. He stumbled backwards as she flipped the phone open, slamming the door shut in the process.

"Hello?" She answered, climbing over the center console and smashing the key into the ignition, starting it.

"Have you neutralized him?" The voice asked her.

"Who?" She asked.

"Kurt. Don't play dumb with me Stephanie. Your little boy's life is in my hands." It reminded her.

"Stephanie!" Kurt yelled at her, pounding on the window.

"Drive away now, Stephanie." It told her. She gave him a pained look, then shifted the car into drive and pulled away. Kurt took off running after her.

"Stephanie!" He shouted. "STEPHANIE!" He finally slowed to a stop and watched her turn around the corner. "Damn it!" He swore, turning back around to run towards the cops.

"All right, I've done what you've asked me so far, now I want some damn proof that you even have my son before I continue." She demanded.

"Thought you might." Randy's voice came onto the line. "There's a manila folder on the floorboard behind you. Pull over somewhere briefly and open it. I'll wait." Stephanie put the car in park again and set the phone in her lap, picking the envelope up from the floorboard. She tried to steady her hands as she ripped it open, remembering the contents of a similar envelope earlier in the day. There was a single photo inside, one of Ash with his hands duct taped together in the trunk of a car. The picture fell from her hands and she snatched the phone up.

"You son of a _bitch_." She spat. She could hear Randy smile on the other end.

"Would you know that's the same thing that your ex-husband said to me?" Randy asked her. "He really needs to learn to watch his mouth when he's around your son, by the way." Stephanie felt her stomach drop.

"What have you done, Randy?" She asked him. This time Randy laughed.

"You two really _are_ similar, aren't you?" He asked her. "Better start driving, Steph. Don't want you to be late."

"Where am I going?" She asked him.

"Turn right on the main road you came in on. I'll let you know more when you need to." He told her.

**1:37** "Why are they doing this, Daddy?" Ash asked Chris, holding his arm to his chest. "Why are they hurting us?" Chris studied his son for a moment, debating on how he was going to answer.

"It's…difficult to explain, Ash." Chris said. "These men…they don't like me very much because I stopped them from doing something they wanted to do."

"Why did you stop them?" Ash asked him.

"Because what they were doing was wrong. And because it would have involved Mommy getting hurt." Chris said. "They're bad men, Ash. Bad men who are only happy when they hurt other people."

"But, if they want to hurt you, why did they hurt me?" Ash asked. Chris's face tightened at the question.

"Because they know that I love you very much. And seeing you hurt hurts me more than anything they could ever do to me." Chris said. Ash lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." He mumbled.

"For what? Why are you sorry?" Chris asked him.

"For making you hurt." Ash said.

"Oh Ash, that's not your fault. _You_ don't make me hurt. **They** do." Chris said, wishing that he could get his hands free to wrap them around his son. "Please don't think that any of this is your fault. It's not. Understand me?" He asked. Ash nodded slowly.

"Is Mommy coming to get us?" Ash asked him after a few moments. Chris set his jaw.

"Maybe." He answered, smiling a false smile at Ash to keep him calm.

"Well, I wish she would hurry." Ash said, settling down next to Chris.

"How's your arm, kiddo?" Chris asked him, changing the subject. He wasn't sure if Ash had overheard them saying Stephanie's name earlier or not, but he knew that it wasn't a good thing that she had been mentioned. All he needed was someone else he loved to be hurt while he could only sit and watch.

"It still hurts, but I'm pretending it doesn't like you told me to." Ash answered, leaning his head against Chris's chest.

"That's my brave boy." Chris said to him. "You just keep pretending. Matter of fact, why don't we _both_ pretend that we're far away from here?"

"Can we be fighting dragons?" Ash asked, suddenly excited. Chris smiled. It was a real smile, but one that felt painfully bittersweet.

"Sure. Let's pretend I'm being held captive by dragons and you have to come save me." He said.

**1:49** Shawn rested his head against the stone floor once more as Bret ceased his punching momentarily. His whole body felt like it was on fire from the amount of punishment that Bret was dealing him. His eyes were almost swollen shut and he could taste the blood running down the back of his throat.

Whatever slim hope that he once had of making it out of this church alive was now gone.

Absently, he wondered if he could have today differently and gotten what he wanted. He wondered if there was some play that he could have made or refused to make that would have allowed him to be able to walk away from this situation. He'd been thinking about this while Bret would go on his rants, trying to isolate himself from the abuse that he was taking, and occasionally – just occasionally – throwing in a few comments to antagonize him further.

He had originally thought that Bret would lose his temper and slip up, but so far, nothing that Shawn had said had really caused Bret to make an error in judgment. After about twenty minutes of trying, Shawn had realized just how much hatred Bret had for him and how long he'd waited to dish it out. Bret took a deep breath and knelt down next to Shawn.

"I think it's about time we ended this party, don't you, Shawn?" He asked him.

"Oh why? It's been such a blast." Shawn commented drily. Bret nodded slightly.

"It _has_ been a good time, but I'm afraid I'm on a schedule." Bret told him. "And Randy's already running late." He said, pausing for a moment. "You're the last piece of my puzzle Shawn. The last person to take care of on my long list of debts."

"If I'm the last name, you apparently don't do your homework very well." Shawn muttered.

"Oh…and why's that?" Bret asked him. "Trying to pawn your old scores off on me to settle for you? I can't say I'm in the giving mood, Shawn." He said, wrapping his hands around Shawn's throat.

"You might be if you knew what I do." Shawn said, his voice changing from the pressure that Bret was exerting on him. Bret tightened his grip.

"You're a liar and a manipulator." Bret told him. "And a very good one, at that. Give me one good reason why I should listen to what you have to say. Or even _believe_ what you have to say."

"Because you've forgotten the person who made Montreal possible." Shawn told him, grabbing at Bret's hands.

"Vince McMahon is already dead." Bret reminded him.

"But Stephanie's not." Shawn said. Bret stared at him for a second, loosening his hold.

"You really are one heartless piece of shit, you know that?" Bret asked him. "The girl dumps you and you try to have her killed. Really nice, Shawn."

"You can believe what you want, Bret. Stephanie was the devil on Vince's shoulders telling him to screw you out of the belt since you decided to screw them over and leave for WCW." Shawn said, gasping. "Vince may have worked out the details, but Stephanie had the initial idea." Shawn told him.

"Stephanie wasn't even working for Vince at that time." Bret pointed out.

"She didn't need to." Shawn said. "She had his ear at home. You know as well as I do that he and Linda had problems for a long time. If there was anyone in that house who could talk business as well as he could, it was her." Bret shook his head at him.

"You're really pathetic." Bret said, tightening his grip. "Using your dying word to try and kill someone else, that's really pathetic." He said. Shawn started to squirm underneath him, trying to gasp for air that was no longer available to him.

"You don't know how long I've waited to do this to you, Shawn." Bret said, smiling as Shawn clawed at his hands. What wasn't bruised on his face started to turn a nice shade of purple. The whites of his eyes were starting to turn red as well.

"I thought that it would be more gratifying than what it is, but I guess that just shows me how worthless you really are." Bret said. "Don't worry, it's gratifying enough to put a smile on my face, knowing that I've rid the world of a scumbag like you." Shawn's whole body started to shake and tense up.

"I guess in hindsight I could have come up with a more…creative way to kill you. But there's just something about killing a man with your bare hands that brings the best kind of satisfaction." Bret said as Shawn's eyes lost focus and started to roll back in his head. Bret held on for a few seconds longer and then finally released him, letting his head fall back against the stone.

**1:59 **"You really wouldn't be worth that anyway." Bret said, pulling his pistol from his belt, and shooting Shawn in the chest three times – just in case the bastard was faking it and holding his breath.

Bret turned to walk back out the door and leave Shawn there to rot when he stopped. He turned and looked back at Shawn's lifeless body and thought for a moment, debating. He really didn't want to give Shawn that much credit, but what the hell? What harm could it do? He pulled his cell phone out and started to dial a number.

Just in case.

**2:00**


	18. 2:00 to 3:00 AM

**A/N: This chapter took a little longer to put together than the others, and it seems a little slower to me than some, but it sets the stage for the next few chapters. I think you'll all still enjoy it. Thanks as always to DCFanatic4Life, TakerTakeMe, and Alliegirl4life for taking the time out to review. I really can't express to you how much I appreciate the time and effort you put in to comment. With that, I give you...**

**2:00-3:00AM**

**2:00** Bret emerged from the room, tucking his cell phone back in his pocket. His contact had been no help, although he couldn't say he was surprised. Leave it to Shawn to say something that, if true was valuable, but was impossible to prove. He glanced down the hallway and saw Kennedy walking towards him.

"Will you do me a favor?" Bret asked him. Kennedy shrugged.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Take Shawn out back where the other bodies are and bury him for me, will you?" Bret asked. Kennedy nodded.

"You're…done with him, I take it?" Ken asked. Bret smiled.

"If by that you're asking if I killed him, the answer is yes, Ken, I did. I don't like loose ends, so do it quickly, if you don't mind." Bret said. Kennedy nodded and walked into the room Bret had just exited. Bret stood in front of the door where Chris and Ash were being held, debating on what he wanted to do. He could go into this room, believing Shawn and forcing the information he needed from Chris, or he could choose to ignore it and walk away.

He decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

Chris looked up as the door opened, only slightly surprised to see Bret as the man walking through it. He had quite a lot of blood on his hands and shirt, blood that Chris was sure didn't belong to him. He felt a slight pang of emotion when he thought about what Shawn was going through, but he didn't dwell on it when he wasn't able to decide what the emotion was. Ash was standing close to him as he watched Bret grab a chair and force it up under the doorknob, preventing anyone else from entering the room. Chris's eyes narrowed. This didn't seem right. Bret walked to where he was in front of Chris and then squatted to where they were eye level.

"Shawn is dead." Bret said simply. Chris didn't move.

"I wish I could say I was sorry to hear that." He admitted.

"You might be." Bret said. Chris cocked an eyebrow.

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Because Shawn told me something before I killed him. Something that I want to double check." Bret said.

"You actually believe something he said?" Chris said. "He was about to be killed. How do you know he didn't just make it up?"

"Because it actually makes sense." Bret said. "Now Chris…I know that you and Stephanie were dating when this happened, so I want you to think about your answer carefully. Did Stephanie have anything to do with the Montreal incident?" Bret asked him. Chris shook his head in disbelief. Leave it to Shawn to make a mess of things even after he was dead.

"Are you serious?" Chris asked him.

"I won't ask it again, Chris. You get ten seconds to think about it before things start getting ugly." Bret promised.

"Stephanie and I didn't talk about that kind of stuff when we were dating back then." Chris said. "I was still working for WCW at the time, and she wasn't about to talk business with someone who worked for the enemy." Bret sat there for a second.

"Not good enough." He said, punching Chris in the face as hard as he could. Chris had only thought that he'd broken his nose in the car wreck earlier…now he had no doubt that it was. Blood started to spurt from it once again and his eyes began to water.

"Damn it, Bret!" Chris shouted. Bret punched him in the face again and again. Chris could almost feel his cheekbones starting to rearrange with each punch. The man had an iron fist - that was for damn sure. Bret stopped for a moment to lean in towards Chris.

"I know how close you two were, Chris, don't play stupid with me." Bret said. Chris winced and looked at him.

"I'm telling you the truth, Bret. We never talked about it. She never said anything and I didn't ask! I doubt that she even knew about it before it happened because she and Vince weren't even speaking at that point!" Chris insisted. Bret seemed to study his face for a moment. After a long silence, he spoke.

"Guess that's something I'm going to have to ask her then." Bret said, standing up. Chris looked up at him.

"Don't, Bret." Chris warned him. Bret turned to look at him.

"I don't think you're in any position to tell me what to do." Bret told him. Chris shook his head.

"Don't let Shawn get at you like this." Chris said.

"Shawn's dead."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time and yet here you are trying to beat a confession out of me to implicate Stephanie! Just because Shawn said it doesn't make it true." Chris said.

"You think I don't know that?" Bret asked him. "You think I didn't consider just walking out and letting it be done?"

"Then why didn't you?" Chris asked him.

"Because I have to be **sure**, Chris. I have to be sure that _everyone_ who hurt me pays for what they did." Bret said.

"Stephanie didn't hurt you." Chris said.

"I don't believe you." Bret said.

"I don't really care what you believe!" Chris spat. "You know what? I'm sick and tired of people like you making up excuses to make my life miserable and hurt the people I care about! I'm sick and tired of all of the shit that goes on because some people can't learn to grow up and deal with the hand that life dealt them! You people need to grow a set and **move on** with your fucking lives!" Chris shouted, his mouth stuck in overdrive. It was like a dam had broken in his mind and now everything that he had ever wanted to say to these people was flowing out faster than he could process it.

"I mean, look at you! You **finally** killed the man that you've hated for over a _**decade**_, and now, here you are trying to find someone else to kill just because you heard a **rumor** that she was involved in something that pissed you off more than _10 years ago_! Do you know how petty that sounds, Bret? How petty and absolutely _pathetic_?" Bret's eyes narrowed at that.

"How much longer are you going to let this eat away at you, Bret?" Chris asked him. "How many more people are you going to have to kill before you're finally satisfied? Or will you ever even **be** satisfied? When are you going to go back to living _your_ life instead of seeking people out for revenge all the time? Or is that the just only way you can get off now?" Chris said before he could stop himself. Bret lunged at him and started to lay hard punches into him wherever he could – his face, his chest, his stomach – didn't matter where as long as he was hitting him.

Chris vaguely heard someone pounding on the door that Bret had braced under Ash's screams for Bret to stop, but the pain that was exploding in him was drowning out any other thought. He briefly saw Ash running towards Bret and tried to shout at him to stop, but he only managed choked nonsense. He saw it happen in slow motion.

Ash ran towards Bret, clutching his bad wrist to his chest, but punching, kicking, and clawing at Bret with his good hand and everything he had. Bret ceased his attack on Chris long enough to backhand Ash so hard he fell backwards, landing on his broken wrist. Ash cried out in pain and Bret stood back up, pulling Chris up with him. Chris felt his anger intensify.

"You want to call **me** pathetic, Chris?" Bret asked him. "How about a man who's been completely pussy whipped? Who would bend over backwards and take a beating for a woman who couldn't give two shits about him most of the time? Or how about a man who centered his life around a woman who continuously uses him for her own benefit because she knows that he'll give her anything she wants? Doesn't that sound petty and pathetic to you? You have no backbone when it comes to Stephanie McMahon, Chris. You never have…and **that** is far more pathetic than anything I've done."

"At least I'm not a murderer." Chris whispered, blood spitting from his lips as he did so. Bret smiled.

"Not yet." He said, giving Chris another look and then letting him fall back to the ground. He gave a quick sneer to Ash and then tossed the chair that was blocking the door out of the way, flinging it open to reveal a very pissed off Randy Orton. Bret shoved him out of the way and slammed the door shut again.

**2:21** "You mind telling me what the **fuck** you think you're doing in there?" Randy shouted, pushing Bret back. Bret pointed a warning finger at him.

"Don't even start with me, Orton. You wouldn't even _have_ him if it wasn't for me!" Bret shouted. "You'd still be wasting away in that-"

"Oh save it!" Randy shouted. "Just save it! I'm so tired of hearing about how you got me out of prison and how I should be _so_ grateful to you! You want me to be grateful? How about you let me handle my own business!"

"Well I got news for ya, _pal_. When I paid to get you out, _your_ business became _**my**_ business." Bret sneered at him. "I want to speak to Stephanie when she gets here," he said turning to walk away. Randy grabbed his arm.

"Don't screw with me, Bret." Randy warned him. "You don't want to go down this road with me." Bret yanked his arm away from Randy.

"Let me know when she gets here." Bret said. "I need to make some phone calls."

**2:24** Ash was sobbing, holding his arm to his chest tightly.

"Ash, you gotta get yourself under control." Chris was pleading with him. "Come on bud, I know it hurts, but you have to pretend that it doesn't."

"I can't!" Ash screamed, still crying. Chris closed his eyes, cursing himself for everything that had happened. Maybe if he'd have kept his mouth shut, Ash wouldn't be in so much pain right now.

"I want Mommy…" Ash cried.

"I know, bu-" Chris started to say, but a coughing fit took over him, his whole body rocking as he did so. Ash scooted over towards Chris and tapped him on the back, trying to help him clear his throat. When his coughing subsided a little, he looked up at his son.

"Are you gonna be okay, Daddy?" Ash asked him, tears rolling down his face. Chris nodded.

"Daddy's gonna be fine." Chris reassured him, before another coughing fit hit.

"I tried to stop him, Daddy, I really did. I tried to save you like we pretended." Ash said, sobbing once more. Chris's coughing halted once more and he took a couple of deep breaths.

"Oh Ash…you already have." Chris said. "You've been saving me from the moment you were born." Ash smiled a little.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Ash asked him. Chris held his son's gaze for a moment then looked away.

"I don't know, Ash." He said, lying through his teeth. He looked back at him, almost sure that he saw something in his son's eyes that looked like doubt. He had a feeling that even Ash knew he was lying about what would happen, but he wanted more than anything to believe what his father was telling him. Ash nodded and sat down next to him again. Chris was losing feeling in his fingers from his hands being attached to that damn hook. He kept trying to clench them every so often to keep the blood flowing through, but he knew that it was a pointless effort.

If it wasn't for the fact that Ash was sitting right next to him, he would have screamed at Orton to end it. To put a bullet in his brain and move on – leaving Ash and Stephanie out of it. He wished that he had been able to protect Ash from everything that had happened so far and everything that he knew was yet to come. He wished that Ash had been able to hang on to that childlike innocence for longer than five years, but he knew it was too late to go back now. Too late to change what had already been done.

He couldn't imagine seeing _his_ father get brutalized at that young of an age – or any age for that matter. It's one thing to see it in the ring where everyone is still okay afterwards, but it's something entirely different when it's really happening. He wanted to believe that Randy would let his son go, but the rational side of him coldly told him that there was no reason for him to. Randy would likely kill Ash in front of him, just to see him break. He would revel in it, and then he would kill Chris.

Chris knew _that_ scenario would only happen if he was lucky. The real situation would likely be much, much worse than that. Randy had already broken Ash's wrist, there was no telling how far he would go and how much pain he would inflict on him before finally deciding to end the torture. And that was just Ash…he still had Stephanie to consider yet too, if she was really on her way here. Randy knew how far Chris would go for Stephanie – he knew how deep the compassion and emotion went between them. There was no way that Randy was going to let Stephanie waltz in here and just be held captive…no, she would be tortured in front of him as well. Chris could see all too well how far Randy would go to hurt her. He wouldn't stop until Chris was begging him to, and even then he would continue out of spite.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

He couldn't afford to think about things like that. He couldn't afford to breakdown. Not here. Not now. He had to stay strong, if not for himself then for Ash. If Ash had to see his father die today, then he would see him do it with dignity. He wasn't going to let Ash live with the memory of his father begging like a coward.

His mind wandered back to what Bret had said when he told him at least he wasn't a murderer. _Not yet._ Bret had said. What the hell did **that** mean? _Not yet?_ Chris stopped for a moment and then felt a lump rise in his throat. His stomach fell to a new depth and he felt like something was sitting on his chest. He looked down at Ash who was resting his head against Chris's chest.

He swallowed and leaned his head back.

And he prayed he was wrong.

**2:33** Kurt put his head in his hands. He knew that he should have never let her go. He should have jumped in front of the car and made her stop and take him with her…or at least explain to him what the hell she was doing. Now he may have lost her for good.

The cops were at a loss for what to do next. All of their leads were exhausted, and even though she'd take his cell phone with her, either the battery was dead, or the phone was off. Either way, there was no way to make a trace on the phone. The car had been a dead end too – he'd hadn't been able to get the license plate number, but the captain hadn't seen much point in working on it, since the car would likely be swapped later on, or would be another dead end like the van plates had been.

So the only thing they could do was wait.

Patience had never been one of Kurt's strong suits.

He took a deep breath and raised his head, watching as the police starting to put some things back into one of their vans. He noticed one of the officers, taking off a jacket like the one he gave to Stephanie and mess with something in the pocket before handing it to one of the others in the van. An idea hit him. Kurt stood up and walked over towards them.

"Officer!" Kurt shouted, getting him to stop. "Can I ask you a question?" The young man shrugged.

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

"That jacket you just took off…is there some kind of…tracking device in it?" Kurt asked. The officer gave him a look.

"Yeah, we activate them anytime we put them on, so that we all show up on the grid when we do a raid like this. It's so whoever's running point knows who and where everyone is." The officer answered.

"How do they become activated?" Kurt asked him. "Do you have to do it manually?" The officer nodded.

"Usually. But the newer models can be turned on remotely as long as you know the number on the jacket."

"How far does the signal reach?" Kurt asked him hurriedly.

"Oh man…long way…fifty miles or so?" He offered. "Why?" He asked, but Kurt was already running towards the captain.

"Captain!" Kurt shouted. The captain turned to him. "I think we may have a way to find her."

**2:46** Stephanie pulled the car to a stop in front of the church, or what seemed to be left of it. Rain was pouring down in sheets and she could barely see anything. She was surprised that she'd been able to find it at all. She turned the car off as the door to the church opened and Randy stood there. She took that as her sign to go. She pushed the door open and jogged through the rain towards him. He grabbed her arm when she got close enough and she quickly yanked away from him.

"Take me to Ash." She demanded. Randy smiled.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Randy said sarcastically.

"I mean it, Randy. If you want my cooperation, let me see him." She said. Randy seemed to consider this for a moment before grabbing her arm again and leading her through the leaking church. Ted turned around to see them as they walked down the steps. Stephanie looked at him and realized that he must have been the first voice that she heard on the phone, although it had been slightly distorted. She stared at him as he watched her being led across the room to the hallway. There was something in his face that she didn't like. Something about him she couldn't quite put her finger on. She looked ahead of her once more when they were in the hallway.

Randy was unusually silent as he opened the door for her, gesturing for her to go in. He stepped in behind her and pulled the door shut.

"Mommy!" Ash screamed suddenly, jumping up and running towards her. She wrapped him in her arms as tightly as she could and felt herself starting to cry.

"Oh, baby!" Stephanie sighed with relief, hugging him tightly. "Oh, I've missed you."

"Can we go home, Mommy? Can you take us home?" Ash asked her, sobbing.

"We have to stay a little while longer, baby, just a little while longer." She said, rubbing her hands up and down his back.

"But I want to go home!" Ash protested, pulling back to look at her face-to-face. She nodded.

"I know, honey, I know, but we can't leave just yet." She said.

"But my arm hurts!" Ash whined. Stephanie tenderly touched the arm he had been holding to himself and felt the broken bone. She winced for him and stood up, turning her attention to Randy. She raised her arm to slap him when he caught it and twisted it behind her, pulling her to him. Kennedy entered the room at that moment, thoroughly soaked. Randy released his hold on her and shoved her back.

"I think you've both had enough time with him." Randy said, motioning for Kennedy to take Ash away. Stephanie started to try and stop him when Randy pulled out his ever-familiar pistol and aimed it at the boy.

"It stopped Chris from resisting - maybe it'll stop you too." He said. "Let him go, or I'll kill him right in front of you." He said.

"I don't wanna go, Mommy." Ash pleaded with her. "Please don't make me go." Stephanie released her grip on him.

"Just for a little while longer, Ash, okay? Can you do it for a little while longer?" She asked him. He nodded bravely as Kennedy led him out of the room. Randy closed the door behind them, turning back around to face her. Chris lapsed into another coughing fit at that moment, causing Stephanie to jump. She turned around in the direction that the sound was coming from, and saw a figure slightly sprawled out on the ground with their hands chained above them to a hook in the wall. The room was dimly lit and she hadn't noticed them when she first entered.

"You'll have to forgive him for not getting up." Randy said. "Chris has had a long day." Stephanie's breath caught in her throat. She walked over to him and knelt down.

"Oh Chris," she whispered, looking at the blood and bruises that covered his body. He was a far cry from the bruised and tired man that she had seen earlier in the day. Blood lined the distance from his nose to his neck, his left eye was swollen shut and the rest of his face was puffy and bruised. He still had his battered t-shirt on, but she knew that his chest and stomach would show similar signs of abuse.

She looked at his neck and could barely make out the bruises Randy's fingers had made when he had strangled him. Chris's hands were in handcuffs, and the connecting chain for those handcuffs had been attached to the hook, keeping him in a seated position with his arms above him. If he stood, his arms would have been behind his back. The way he was laying was forcing the handcuffs to dig into his skin and she could see where the skin was already rubbed raw and bleeding in places. She turned back to Randy.

"What have you done to him?" She demanded.

**2:57 **"Nothing he didn't deserve." Randy answered her, walking towards them. Her face wrinkled up in disgust at him.

"He didn't deserve _any_ of this!" She shouted at him. "If you didn't have your head so far up your ass maybe you'd be able to see that!" Randy backhanded her and Chris flinched. Her head snapped over to the side and she pressed a hand to her cheek.

"I can see why you divorced her." Randy commented. "She's got a pretty big mouth on her. Of course, I'm sure that came with its advantages too." He started to lean in towards her again when Bret entered the room.

**3:00**


	19. 3:00 to 4:00 AM

**Sorry to make you wait! I've been working on this chapter diligently and finally put the finishing touches on it today. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter and to those who added this to your favorites list! **

**3:00-4:00AM**

**3:00** Bret entered the room slowly, taking his time with closing the door and then calmly walking to the center of the back wall, making sure he was standing a few feet away from Randy, who was seething more and more with every step that Bret took. Bret stood there, wordlessly, obviously waiting for Randy to say something. After a few moments of silence, he finally did.

"What do you want, Bret?" Randy asked him, through gritted teeth. Bret smiled.

"I'm glad you asked. I want to speak to Stephanie." Bret said calmly. "As a matter of fact, I thought that _I told you_ I wanted to see her _when she got here_." He reminded Randy. Stephanie chanced a glance at Chris, who didn't look as confused as she thought he might be.

"I didn't forget, Bret." Randy said.

"Somehow I think you have." Bret said, a little anger starting to come into his voice. "I think you've forgotten a lot of things today - _important_ things, like who's _really_ running things around here."

"**I **am running things around here! This is _**my **_payback now, damn it!" Randy shouted. "Whatever you want with Stephanie is just going to have to wait until _I'm_ finished with her!"

"What is he talking about?" Stephanie whispered to Chris.

"I don't think that's true, Randy." Bret said, stepping closer to him. "I think that you're going to give me what I want, or you're going to suffer the consequences."

"Bret thinks you had something to do with Montreal." Chris whispered back.

"That's ridiculous!" Stephanie hissed.

"Go blow it out your ass, Bret! You've had your chance for revenge, now it's time for me to get mine." Randy shouted.

"No, I don't think so." Bret said, stepping next to Chris as he pulled his pistol out. He pointed the weapon at Chris's head. "You let me talk to her now, or I'll kill him and you won't get _shit_." Randy's face scrunched in anger and started to turn red. "Kick your gun over to me."

"Like hell. I don't want to give these two a chance at having a loaded weapon." Randy told him. Bret shrugged and started to squeeze the trigger. Stephanie suddenly kicked his hand as he did so, causing him to pull it, but his aim was off – the bullet struck Chris in the right shoulder.

Chris grunted in pain as Stephanie screamed, turning her attention to him to make sure he was all right. Randy lunged forward, sending Bret backwards into the wall, causing him to drop his gun. Randy kneed him in the gut and shoved him to the ground, pulling his gun from his belt and shooting Bret in the head without even batting an eye. He heard a gun cock behind him after Bret's body fell limp.

**3:04 **"Put it down, Randy." Stephanie told him, holding Bret's gun in her hands. He snorted and managed a smile as he turned around to face her.

"You know…the last time I saw you hold a gun, you pulled the trigger on Chris." Randy said. "Only because you knew that the gun was empty. But you're not going to shoot me, Stephanie. You don't have the stomach to actually kill anyone." He told her.

"Oh, you think so?" Stephanie asked him, her finger on the trigger.

"I **know** so. Especially now that Ash is around. What would he think if his _mommy_ was a **murderer**?" Randy sneered, taking a step towards her. She took a step back.

"Stay right there, Orton." She told him. "Stay right there, or so help me…" Randy raised his gun and pointed it at Chris.

"Or what, Stephanie?" Randy asked her. "Tell you what, you give me that gun, and I won't paint the wall with Chris's brain." He told her.

"Don't give it to him, Steph." Chris said and Randy kicked him in the stomach.

"Chris!" Stephanie cried out, the gun wavering in her hands.

"What's it gonna be, Stephanie?" Randy asked her. "The choice is yours."

"Don't." Chris wheezed. Stephanie gave him a pained look and then took a deep breath before handing the gun over to Randy. He grabbed onto the barrel of the gun and stood there for a moment, before violently taking the gun and hitting her in the side of the face with it. The blow was strong enough to knock Stephanie to her knees.

"You son of a_ bitch_!" Chris shouted.

"**Shut up**!" Randy yelled at him, kicking him again. He tucked Bret's gun in the back of his pants and walked over to Stephanie, shoving her to the ground.

"You don't know how many times I've dreamt of this - getting my revenge on you two. You ruined my life." Randy said frankly. "I think that it's time someone ruined yours." Stephanie glared up at him, pushing herself up, only to have Randy kick her in the stomach.

"Damn it, Randy!" Chris shouted. "Leave her alone!"

"Or what, Chris?" Randy asked him, smirking. "You know, it took me a long time to figure out just what I wanted to do to you. It didn't take me long to figure out that your biggest pressure point would Stephanie and Ash." Randy paused for a moment. "The only question was what to do to them to get you to do what I wanted." He walked back over to Chris, leaning down to get in his face.

"What do you want from me, Orton?" Chris asked him.

"Honestly? I want to see you **break**, Chris. I want to see you on your knees, begging for me to stop – for me to kill you." Randy admitted. "But more than that… I want you to see the look on your face when I put an end to your family. Only then, will I be completely satisfied." He smiled, tapping Chris lightly on the cheek before turning his attention back to Stephanie.

"So what should I do to her?" Randy asked him, walking back over to Stephanie. She had a cut on her cheek that was now bleeding from Randy hitting her across the face with his gun. He started to kneel down next to her when she whipped her lower body around, kicking his legs out from under him. Randy went sprawling backwards, and Bret's gun went flying again. Stephanie dove for his gun and turned to aim it at him when he hit her across the face once more. He straddled her and yanked the gun out of her hands, taking the clip out before throwing the empty weapon across the room. Stephanie reached up to slap him across the face, but he caught her hands and pinned them above her head. She started to wiggle and squirm against him.

"Feisty little bitch." Randy muttered, pulling a zip tie from his back pocket with his spare hand and then working to tighten it around her wrists. He made sure to pull it tight – so tight that it seemed to be cutting the skin already, even though he'd just put it on. She winced as he tightened it and glared at him when he smiled. He quickly hopped off of her and pulled her by her bound hands over to the side of the room, opposite Chris, using a second zip tie to fasten her to a similar hook that Chris was bound to.

"There." He said, taking a step back to admire his handiwork. "**Now** we're having some fun."

"So now, let me ask you a hypothetical question, Chris." Randy said, as he started to walk around the room. "Say that you could only save one member of your family. And you had to pick between Stephanie and Ash – which one would you pick?"

"Go to hell." Chris spat. Randy clicked his tongue at him.

"I'm just asking a question, Chris." Randy told him innocently. "No need to get so upset about it."

**3:21** "Can't this thing go any faster?" Kurt asked the captain. The captain shook his head.

"The farther away the signal is, the longer it takes to get a position on the map." The captain said. Kurt sighed impatiently as they both went back to staring at the computer screen.

The little bar at the bottom of the screen had stopped at 80% and Kurt was beginning to glare at it. As if him staring intently at it was going to make it go any faster. He could kick himself for not getting into that car with Stephanie. He knew that she had her reasons for doing what she did, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with on his end. He hoped against hope that this was going to work.

The bar on the screen moved a little more to the right – 83%. Kurt sighed and looked away, turning around to study the vehicles behind him.

"How long have you two known each other?" The captain asked him. Kurt turned his gaze away from the vehicles and towards the captain.

"Almost ten years." He said. The captain's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Wow. Did you guys ever-"

"No." Kurt answered, cutting him off. "We never dated, if that's what you were going to ask." The captain nodded.

"I guess you get asked that a lot." The captain said. Kurt nodded this time, a small smile coming to his face.

"I did for a while, until she and Chris got married." Kurt said.

"Now, they're divorced, right?" The captain asked.

"Yeah, they hit a bit of a rough patch…wrestling is a hard profession to marry into." Kurt admitted, checking the screen again - 97%.

"There's a lot of professions that are hard to marry into." The captain said. "This one isn't exactly a picnic on marriages either." The computer beeped finally, and they both turned around to face the screen.

"We've got the location. Looks like the jacket is in an old church right off of the highway." The officer at the computer told them.

"How long will it take us to get there?" The captain asked.

"Should be able to get there within the hour." The officer told him. The captain nodded and started to walk back towards the vehicles. Kurt followed him.

"I want to go with you." Kurt said. The captain nodded.

"Thought you might." He said. "Go grab a vest and put it on and meet me at my truck."

**3:34** "This has to be the stupidest job anyone could have." Kennedy said, shifting his weight as he sat on the equipment case. "That kid isn't going anywhere, Ted. You and I know that."

"Yeah, well, Randy doesn't want us to let him out of our sights, so we sit." Ted said, shifting his gaze from the sleeping child to the computer screen on his right. He typed a few sentences in and went back to watching Ash sleep.

"Who the hell are you chatting with?" Kennedy asked him.

"The guy who's running our escape plan." Ted said. Kennedy nodded.

"Everything still going as planned?" He asked.

"As far as I know." Ted told him, turning to read the most recent line in the conversation.

_I want confirmation that Irvine and Stephanie have been terminated. Bring the boy to me. Do that and you'll have your money and a ticket to anywhere you want._

**3:39** "**Stop it Randy!!**" Chris shouted. "I SAID STOP DAMN IT!!" Randy hit Stephanie one more time for good measure and stepped back. Her face was puffy and red and her nose was starting to bleed from being hit across the face so many times. She felt like her head was going to explode. Her face felt like it was on fire and she was trying hard not to cry out, because she knew that it was hurting Chris to see it just as much as it was hurting her to feel it.

Randy came towards her again, this time wrapping a hand around her throat and stepping on one of her ankles to keep her from kicking him. He ran his other hand over Stephanie's chest and she squeezed her eyes shut in fear of what she knew was coming. Randy turned to face Chris, who was pulling against his handcuffs as hard as he could.

"You know, I always wondered what she would be like." Randy confessed to him, leaning in to smell Stephanie's neck as she tried to lean away from him.

"Don't you dare, you son of a bitch." Chris growled. Randy smiled at him before turning to Stephanie and pulling her towards him, kissing her roughly. Chris screamed in frustration and anger as he watched Randy run his hands over Stephanie. When he saw Randy's hand reaching for her jeans, he snapped.

"Don't do this Randy!" he shouted, pausing for a moment before trying to get on his knees. Randy turned his head to watch him.

"I'll…_I'll do whatever you want_!" Chris screamed. "Just, **please**…don't do that to her." He felt sick to his stomach. He was giving the bastard everything he wanted. He was on his knees, begging Randy to stop. He felt like he was degrading himself in doing so, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't sit by and watch Stephanie get raped.

"Chris-" Randy covered Stephanie's mouth.

"You'll do _whatever_ I want?" Randy asked him. Chris nodded in defeat. Randy smiled, releasing Stephanie and taking a step away from her.

"Hmm, well as a show of good faith, if you do something for me, I may have a way for you to save a member of your family, Chris." Randy said, a sadistic gleam coming into his eyes. "But first, I need you to pick the one you want to save." Chris felt his stomach roll. He should have known that there was no such thing as a hypothetical question to Randy Orton. He looked to Stephanie.

He knew as soon as he looked at her which one he was going to pick, but he hated that he had to pick at all. He didn't want to have to pick between his wife…ex-wife and his son. How could he and still live with himself? Granted, he wouldn't have to live with his decision for long – Randy was going to kill him soon anyways, so whichever one he _didn't_ pick, he'd wind up being reunited with soon after. But, somehow that thought didn't make his decision any easier. Randy waved a hand in front of his face.

"Still in there, Chris?" Randy asked him.

"Ash." Chris answered. "I want to save Ash." Randy nodded.

"Good choice. I have to say that you're a _little_ on the predictable side though." Randy admitted to him.

"Wouldn't want to disappoint." Chris said, drily.

"All right Chris, I have a way for you to save Ash." He said. "And I'm so thoughtful, I'll even give you the chance to back out of it. If you back out though, both Stephanie **and** Ash will die." Chris looked at Stephanie again.

"I understand." He said. Randy nodded that he had heard Chris's response and then walked around the room for a moment, as if thinking about how he wanted to phrase his next sentence. Eventually, he came to a stop in front of Chris and hunched down to be eye-level with him. He put a hand on Chris's bad shoulder, squeezing it a little, causing Chris to wince.

**3:47 **"Now, in order for you to save Ash's life…" Randy paused. "You have to kill Stephanie."

Chris felt like the floor had just been yanked out from under him.

"What?" He asked, Randy stood back up.

"If you want to save your son's life, you need to kill Stephanie." Randy repeated. "You'll be shooting her, of course. It's really not that hard to understand, Chris." Chris suddenly felt like it was harder to breathe, he turned to Stephanie, who seemed to be a few shades paler than what she had been moments earlier.

"I-I can't." Chris said. "I can't do that." Randy shrugged.

"Okay, don't say-" Randy started, but Stephanie cut him off.

"Do it, Chris." She said to him, quietly. Chris's jaw fell open.

"What?! You can't be _serious_?!" Chris asked her.

"We have the chance to save our **son**, Chris, don't you want to take it?" She asked him.

"He could be lying, Stephanie." He shouted. "Are you really willing to take that gamble?"

"If you don't do it, he dies anyway Chris." She said to him. "What do you have to lose?" He gaped at her.

"_What do I have to lose?_ Stephanie! I'll have to watch you die right in front of me! **Worse**! I'll have to do it with the knowledge that _**I**_ was the one who pulled the trigger!" Chris shouted at her. "I can't kill you Stephanie! I just…I can't." Randy was standing back, watching this transpire with a smile on his face.

"You _can_, Chris." She told him. "You **have** to. I know how you are. You're going to think you've got blood on your hands either way. If you kill me to save him, you'll only have mine. If you don't, you have _both_ of our blood on your hands."

"Don't you do this." He told her. "Don't you guilt me into this, Stephanie."

"I'm not trying to guilt you into anything!" She shouted at him finally. "I want you to realize that our son hasn't had the chance to live _his_ life yet! You and I, we've had our chance. We had our happiness! I want you to give him a chance at the same thing!" Chris sighed angrily. Stephanie had tears in her eyes.

"I want our son to have a chance to grow up, Chris. If that means I have to die for it to happen, then so be it." She told him. He looked up at her with his own tears.

"Stephanie…" he warned.

"I'm serious, Chris. He's our son. We owe him that much." She said, giving him a pained look and he knew that she didn't necessarily _want_ him to do this, but if Ash was able to survive this day, then it would be worth it to her.

He wished he could say the same.

"So what's the final decision, Chris?" Randy asked him. "Are you going to accept my offer? Deal or no deal?" He asked, laughing. Chris took a deep breath and stared at Stephanie for a long moment.

**3:52 **"I'll do it." He said finally. Randy was slightly surprised. He knew that it would be a deal Chris didn't want to pass up, but he didn't think that Chris actually had it in him to go through with it. He'd give it a little bit yet. Chris still had a chance to blow this.

Randy walked over to Chris, and pulled him to his feet. The position was uncomfortable because of the way his hands were attached to the wall, but it was possible. He undid one of Chris's hands and put his gun in it, holding him tightly to make sure that Chris wouldn't turn the gun and simply shoot him instead. Randy held the gun level with where it needed to be to shoot Stephanie in the chest. Randy didn't think Chris would be able to shoot her in the head with him holding his arm. Chris winced as Randy held his arm in that position. His shoulder was screaming in pain, but he could barely feel it. His mind was in complete chaos.

There was no way he was going be able to go through with this. He couldn't even kill himself, much less Stephanie. Some people might have argued that he would want this opportunity – that surely he had dreamed of hurting her for everything that she had put him through, but he didn't. He never felt the desire to hurt Stephanie…he had loved her even when she shattered his heart. He loved her so much that it drove him crazy to think about having to live the rest of his life without her. So much to the point where he didn't want to live if he couldn't be with her – if he couldn't be the one who made her happy. Bret said that made him pathetic. Chris thought that it made him madly in love, a hopeless romantic even.

As he stared down the length of his arm and the barrel of the gun aimed towards Stephanie he suddenly felt like he had a million things to say to her. He wanted to apologize for so many things and tell her everything that he had thought. He wanted another chance with her, but he knew he'd already gotten it. He'd blown his second chance with her. Now there was only this.

She had tears streaming down her face as she watched him. His face was overcome by fear and concern, doubt…and love. She knew that he loved her. He had never been shy in telling her so. She also knew that this was going to be an awful burden for him to bear and she hoped that Randy would at least be merciful and kill him soon after so that he never had to suffer through another day like this one.

His hand started to shake as he tried to focus on what he had to do. Randy's hands were wrapped around his to make sure that he wouldn't deviate from his target. He took a moment to look over his shoulder at the man who had successfully made his life completely and totally miserable. The viper? More like the devil.

"You had better let him go, you bastard." Chris growled to him in a tone that was foreign sounding to his own ears. Randy looked at him seriously.

"If you actually go through with this, Irvine, you have my word that your son will not be harmed." Randy told him. "You'll have proved my little experiment. I have no need for him after this." Chris turned his gaze back to Stephanie.

"Chris," she said, he voice shaking. "I want you to know that I love you." She said. His face almost cringed when she said it, as if she was causing him more pain by saying it. "I want you to know that it was never your fault…us splitting up." She confessed.

"Stephanie…" he said, his tone conveying to her that he wanted her to stop explaining herself to him.

"I just doubted myself." She said. "I know this isn't the right time, but you need to hear it. I doubted us. Everything felt too perfect…so I thought that it wasn't. I felt like I was failing you somehow and that you were just too nice to tell me what I was doing wrong."

"Stephanie, please." He pleaded with her. "Don't."

"I was worried you were finding happiness somewhere else – with someone else, and you were hanging onto me because you felt guilty for leaving me. Shawn…played into my fears. I thought he cared for me, but I guess I was wrong about that, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for hurting you the way I did. I wish that I could take it all back." She said, the tears rolling down her face faster now.

"I was happy with **you**, Steph." Chris said to her gently. "You were the only one I wanted. Ever."

"I know that now." She admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, how touching." Randy commented. "Look, Chris, either you pull the trigger now or the deal goes away. I'm not going to stand here all night." Chris looked at Stephanie through his own tears.

"I'm sorry too." He said, ignoring Randy. "I love you." She nodded.

"I love you too." She said. Chris took a deep breath and tried to steady his hands and silence his mind. He had to do this to save Ash. He _had_ to think about Ash.

**3:58 **"God forgive me." He whispered before taking another deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed as he pulled the trigger.

The gunshot was deafening.

Chris opened his eyes and saw Stephanie slump against the wall. The gun fell from his hands and Randy released his grip on him. His whole body felt numb as he realized what had just happened. He had just shot her…He really…just shot her.

His legs gave out from under him and he fell to the floor, his eyes glued to Stephanie's motionless form. He closed his eyes in horror, burying his face in his free hand, and started to sob. Randy stood there, simply admiring the beauty and the irony of the whole situation. He would keep his word though. He would let Ash go. Whether or not Chris wanted to believe that he would was a different matter that didn't concern him.

Chris's thoughts came rushing towards him at a million miles a minute. Maybe he _hadn't_ killed her. Maybe she was just unconscious? She could have hit her head against the wall when she was shot, right? The jacket she was wearing was dark – he couldn't tell where he'd hit her after it happened. Maybe Randy's aim had been a little off and she would still be okay.

Right on the tail of thoughts like that, he started shaking because he believed that he had killed her. He really and truly believed that she was dead. That he had just shot and killed the woman that he loved the most in this world, more than life itself.

"Congratulations, Chris." Randy said, patting him on the back and walking over to her to check if she was dead before he suddenly stopped. He turned his head to the side and listened for a few moments. Chris found himself listening too, and realizing that there was a faint sound beginning to pierce its way through the silence. Chris felt his stomach sink when he realized what the sound was and what it meant.

**4:00 **It was a police siren, and it was getting louder by the second.


	20. 4:00 to 5:00 AM

**Thank you, thank you, _thank you _to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I honestly can't thank you all enough! **

**4:00-5:00AM**

**4:00** He should have waited.

He hadn't wanted to pull the trigger when he did, but he was afraid that if he didn't, Randy would have done it for him and then he would kill Ash too. Sitting here, now, he wished that he **had** waited. If he'd have waited just a few moments – _milliseconds_ even ….maybe she'd still be alive.

He stared at her from across the room, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach intensifying at the realization that he could have saved her. He could have saved them all if he had just waited. The police were on their way and Ash would likely be saved regardless of what had happened in this room. Chris suddenly felt nauseous.

He had shot Stephanie for nothing. He had killed the woman he loved for no damn reason at all.

His nauseous feeling melted into one of rage.

Randy was standing in the middle of the room, shouting into his walkie-talkie, trying to get Ted or Kennedy to pick up on the other end. Chris looked down at the floor for a second at the gun that he had let fall from his hands moments earlier. The gun that he shot Stephanie with. He moved his free hand slowly and picked it up – the metal feeling cold and, quite possibly, _evil_ in his hands.

_Murderer_. His mind whispered to him. Bret had taunted him about it. Now he supposed it was true.

He wrapped his fingers around the handle of the gun and raised it slowly to aim at Randy, who was still yelling into his walkie-talkie. Chris could hear the sirens getting closer still. It wouldn't be long before they were here. He knew that they would want to take Randy back to prison. Chris didn't think Randy _**deserved**_ prison. Prison was a luxury resort compared to what Randy deserved.

The thought of Randy spending the rest of his life behind bars, eating crappy food, and reading books while Stephanie would be rotting in a grave was enough to convince Chris that what he wanted to do was right. That it would be the justice he deserved.

Randy turned and saw Chris holding the gun at him at that moment. He reached for his own. Chris watched as Randy's eyes widened for a second, then frustration came across his features.

The gun that Randy was looking for was the one Chris was holding in his hand.

"Go ahead, Chris." Randy told him, holding his hands out to his sides. "Shoot me. They'll put **you** in prison just like they did to me. You'll make Ash an orphan with Mommy dead and Daddy in prison." Randy sneered. "What will he think of his father once he realizes that **you** were the one to kill Stephanie? Or are you planning on hiding that little fact from him?"

"Shut. Up." Chris said, through gritted teeth.

"Do you really want to have to go through that pain again, Chris?" Randy asked him. "I mean, you already lost her once. Do you really want to have to go through that again?" Chris glared at him and his hand started to shake. "I can make it so you don't have to live one day without her, Chris. You give me that gun, and I can put you out of your misery." Randy promised.

For a moment, Chris seriously considered Randy's offer. He didn't know if he was strong enough to make it without Stephanie. Granted, he had done it while she was with Shawn, but at least then he was still able to _see_ her. He could still see her at work and watch from afar as she would smile. He could even hear her laugh from time to time. Now he would have nothing but pictures and memories.

But he wasn't the only one who would be mourning her. Chris had lost his love, true, but Ash had lost his mother. Ash would be in just as much pain as Chris was. If Chris was gone too…he couldn't do that. He couldn't do that to his son. Stephanie wouldn't have wanted it.

"Go to hell." Chris spat. The sirens had stopped and there were men shouting above them as they searched the main floor of the abandoned church. Randy smiled at him. Chris was just squeezing the trigger as Randy lunged at him, trying to wrestle the gun away from him.

Randy tried to sit on top of Chris to keep him from using his legs, but Chris was able to kick him off before he could get that accomplished. He started to raise the gun at Randy again, but Randy kicked it out of his hands before he could do so sending the weapon across the floor and out of his reach. When Randy came at him again, he managed to wrap his legs around Randy's torso, and used his free hand to wrap his arm around Randy's neck, putting him in a headlock, cutting off Randy's air supply. Randy squirmed and struggled to break the hold, but Chris had it locked in as tight as he could make it – his rage and adrenaline giving him more strength than he would normally have had at the moment.

"You have messed with my family for the last time, Randy." Chris growled to him. "And I'm going to make it so that you can never hurt anyone _ever_ again."

"You'll never be able to protect him." Randy choked out.

"Shut up!" Chris shouted at him, pulling his arm tighter. Randy gasped.

"There are others who want him, Chris. Who want to hurt you. I can take you to them." Randy promised.

"And I'm supposed to believe you? Just like that?" Chris asked him. "After _**everything**_ you've done today?! You killed Stephanie!"

"No, Chris. **You** killed Stephanie. I gave you a choice." Randy reminded him, his voice sounding harsher by the second. His face was starting to turn purple.

"You gave me an ultimatum!" Chris said.

"But you didn't have to accept it." Randy reminded. "If you kill me, you'll never see your son again."

"The police are upstairs, Randy. There's nowhere for Ted and Kennedy to go with him. You lost." Chris said. Randy choked out a laugh as his face turned from a dark red to a purple color.

"No, Chris. You did." Randy told him. Chris had heard enough.

"Say hello to Hunter for me." He said lowly to Randy.

"I hope you can live with yourself for what's about to happen." Randy told him.

"I hope you rot." Chris said flatly, ignoring Randy's warning. He hesitated for a second, wrapping his fingers around the back of Randy's head as he wondered if he really could do this.

"_I love you too." She said. Chris took a deep breath and tried to steady his hands and silence his mind. _

"_God forgive me." He whispered before taking another deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed as he pulled the trigger. _

Chris yanked Randy's head around and snapped his neck, killing him.

He held onto Randy's lifeless body for a few moments after, listening to the policemen making their way down the steps. After a few seconds, he finally released Randy and pushed him off of the top of him. He leaned his head back against the stone floor.

"It's over." He mumbled. "It's finally over." He put his hand over his face as he thought about it. This day, this nightmare…was finally coming to an end. Randy was dead. There was no way for him to come back and hurt him or Ash ever again.

But the price he had paid to get that security…was almost too much for Chris to bear.

He briefly thought about what Randy had said to him, about there being others who wanted to hurt him, but then he remembered what had happened to Bret. How Shawn had tried with his dying words to implicate Stephanie, and how Bret had bought into it so much that he was willing to throw everything else to hunt down everyone who he thought had "hurt" him.

Randy was no different than Shawn. It was all just another mind game to keep him paranoid. Chris wasn't going to buy into it.

He jumped slightly as a group of officers stormed into the room after breaking the door down. Two of them came over to help him, while the other two surveyed the carnage in the room, checking on the bodies. They helped him sit up and one started to free his hand from the wall.

**4:13 **"Are you all right, Mr. Irvine?" One of them asked. Chris wanted to ask them how they know his name, but he suddenly felt numb all over. He felt strangely empty as the officers helped him to his feet. The one on his left took his arm and draped it over his neck to help him walk. The one on his right walked over to Stephanie. Chris reached out towards her as the first officer led him out of the room.

"Stephanie." He said, painfully. The officer nodded.

"Frank's gonna get her – right now we need to get you out of here. You need to be checked out." The officer told him.

"My son." Chris said to him, trying to think through the fog that was covering his mind. "My son's in here too." The officer nodded once more.

"We know, we're searching for him right now." He said, leading Chris back up the steps behind the pulpit. Chris didn't know how long he'd been down there, but he knew that he hadn't really moved in quite some time. He was stiff beyond reason and sore all over. He knew that he looked like hell – he felt like he had been through it.

"Chris!" Kurt shouted, running up towards him. The officer helped him sit on the back of an ambulance as a medic started to look him over.

"Chris, Jesus…are you all right?" Kurt asked him. Chris looked up at him.

"I'll live." He said, almost with a twinge of sorrow.

"What about Stephanie, is she okay?" Kurt asked him. Chris felt a weight on his chest. His eyes began to water as he replayed the scene in his head.

"_I was worried you were finding happiness somewhere else – with someone else, and you were hanging onto me because you felt guilty for leaving me. Shawn…played into my fears. I thought he cared for me, but I guess I was wrong about that, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for hurting you the way I did. I wish that I could take it all back." She said, the tears rolling down her face faster now. _

"_I was happy with __**you**__, Steph." Chris said to her gently. "You were the only one I wanted. Ever."_

"_I know that now." She admitted. "I'm sorry."_

"Chris?" Kurt asked him, looking concerned. Chris felt tears sting his eyes.

"She's…" Chris choked, not finishing his sentence. He couldn't quite bring himself to say the words. Even though he believe it was the truth, he didn't want to say those words. Saying those words would make it real, and he didn't want it to be real. He wanted her to still be alive. Kurt clearly got the message though, and he held onto the ambulance to keep himself upright.

"She's dea-" He started, but Chris cut him off.

"Don't…don't say it." Chris told him, closing his eyes. "I can't…I can't hear it right now. I don't want to hear it."

"Are you sure?" Kurt asked him. "I mean, maybe you just thought she was dead?" Kurt suggested hopefully.

"I don't think so, Kurt." Chris said to him. The medic turned to him.

"We need to transport you to a hospital." The medic told him. Chris started to shake his head, and Kurt began to disagree with him.

"C'mon Chris." He pleaded.

"No." Chris told him flatly. "I'm not going anywhere until I see Ash. I'm not leaving without him."

"Let the police finish up and find Ash." Kurt told him. "I'll stay here and wait." Chris shook his head more assertively.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kurt. I need to see my son." Chris said. "I need to see Stephanie when she's brought out." Kurt was taken back.

"Why?" Chris looked at him for a moment, and Kurt could see the toll that this was taking on him. He could see it in Chris's eyes. The once vibrant blue orbs were dull and grief-ridden. Kurt felt sorry for him.

"I just…need to." Chris said, not really having a better reason. He wasn't sure why he felt he needed to see Stephanie. Maybe for closure. He knew that she didn't blame him, hell she was the one who had talked him into it, but that didn't make him feel any better. How was he supposed to feel? How did he expect he was going to feel?

"_I'm sorry too." He said. "I love you." She nodded._

"_I love you too." She said. Chris took a deep breath and tried to steady his hands and silence his mind. _

"_God forgive me." He whispered before taking another deep breath. He squeezed his eyes shut and screamed as he pulled the trigger._

He shivered involuntarily.

The medic insisted on Chris putting his right arm in a sling, due to his bullet wound in the shoulder. The medic told him that he had been extremely lucky – the bullet had passed through without causing any major damage. Chris had nodded and let him put the sling on.

**4:26** "How long does it take them to search a building?" Chris asked Kurt, who shrugged.

"I have no idea." Kurt said. "But I wouldn't think it would take that terribly long." He admitted. They watched as two police officers walked back out of the building. Chris rested his face in his good hand.

"God, I hope he's okay." Chris muttered. Kurt moved over to sit next to Chris, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He wanted to say so many things to this man. As Stephanie's best friend, he knew what she thought of Chris. He knew that Chris meant the world to her, and she was always thankful for everything that he had done for her. He never understood why they separated – it was the one thing that she had refused to share with him, so he eventually stopped asking.

"She loved you, you know that?" Kurt asked him. Chris stared at the pavement below them.

"Yeah…I know." Chris said.

"How did it happen?" Kurt asked him. Chris winced.

"I don't want-"

"Well you need to." Kurt said. "I don't care if you don't want to talk about it, you're going to do it anyway. You need to get this off of your chest before they bring Ash to you. Otherwise he's going to know something's wrong." Kurt told him.

"Something **is wrong**, Kurt!" Chris shouted at him. They both fell silent for a moment.

"What did they do to her?" Kurt asked him finally.

"Leave it alone, Kurt." Chris warned him.

"I'm not trying to upset you, Chris. I'm trying to help you!" Kurt insisted.

"How are you helping me?" Chris asked him bitterly. "By asking me questions I don't want to answer? Ah yes, that makes perfect sense now!" He said sarcastically.

"I just don't want you to have to bear it alone, Chris." Kurt said. "No one will ever understand what you went through down there-"

"You're right. They won't." Chris said, wiping a stray tear from his eye and looking away from Kurt. Kurt sighed angrily.

"Well you need to tell someone. Otherwise you're going to keep it inside until it eats you alive. It's not good for you. Or Ash. Stephanie wouldn't want you to be like this." Kurt told him.

"Do you honestly think that telling someone what happened is going to make it any easier to deal with, Kurt?" Chris asked him. "Do you think that if I tell you what happened, things will magically be okay and the pain that I'm feeling won't be as bad? Telling you what happened won't bring her back."

"Neither will keeping it to yourself." Kurt pointed out. "What can it hurt, Chris? Don't you want to get it off your chest? Doesn't Ash deserve to know-"

"Ash will _never_ know." Chris cut him off. "I will **never** tell him what happened down there. I can only hope that he'll eventually forget about most of it."

"Well what if he doesn't? Eventually he'll want to know-"

"Want to know _what_, Kurt? That his mother was killed because I had to choose between him or her?!" Chris shouted at him finally. "Not only that, but that _**I**_ had to be the one to shoot her?!" Kurt stared at him, agape as tears started to roll down Chris's face. "I will _**never**_ tell him what happened." He repeated. "He's all I have and if he knew what I did…I'd lose him too." He paused. "He would never look at me the same after that. I can't lose him, Kurt." Kurt sat there silently, unsure of what to say to him.

"I'm…I'm sorry." Kurt said quietly. "I didn't realize…" Chris turned away from him. "Are you sure that she's dead?" He asked him.

"How could she not be?" Chris asked him. "I shot her in the chest, Kurt. Randy made sure of that much."

"Mr. Angle, the captain is asking to speak to you." An officer said, walking up to the two of them. Kurt nodded.

"I'll be there in a second." He said and the officer walked away. Kurt turned to Chris. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Chris nodded and waved him off.

He sat there, staring at the entrance to the church, watching as two body bags were brought out. He found himself wondering if Stephanie was in one of them…if he would have to ID the body for them and start making funeral plans. He closed his eyes and put his head in his hand. He didn't want to think about this. He didn't want to go through this.

When he raised his head again, his heart stopped.

The police were carrying out another body bag, but one of the officers was helping someone down the steps. She pressed a hand to her head briefly and seemed to be asking the officer a question. The officer turned to look at Chris and pointed in his direction. She turned and caught sight of him.

He was dreaming. He _had_ to be. There was no way…

Stephanie quickly ran down the rest of the steps and started running towards him. He managed to slide off of the back of the ambulance and take a few steps forward before she reached him. She jumped at him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, hugging him as if he was her life preserver. It took him a moment to react – to realize that she was _real_. That she was _really_ there with him, hugging him, whispering his name. He turned and started to lay kisses on her face, before burying his head in the crook of her neck.

**4:47 **"I thought I lost you." He whispered, choking on his words. "I thought that…"

"I know, I know." She shushed him and pulled his face to where they were eye level.

"How…?" He breathed.

"My jacket." She told him, her hands cupping his face. "It was bulletproof."

"What?" He asked her.

"One of the officers called it a flak jacket. It's like a bulletproof vest." She said.

"Where did you get that?" He asked.

"Kurt found a jacket for me when we were still looking for you. One of the officers handed it to him then." She said. "It felt heavier, but I never noticed anything different."

"So you're not…hurt?" He asked her. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine." She assured him. He felt a tidal wave of relief wash over him. He pulled her tighter against him.

"God, when I pulled that trigger…" He whispered. "I thought I had… had killed you…" He felt tears start to roll down his face. He wanted to simply break down sobbing with relief, but he had to maintain some of his composure. She nodded.

"When the bullet hit me, I hit my head against the wall and I guess I blacked out for a little bit." She said.

"I just…I can't believe…" He said, not able to string together his words. She nodded again and kissed him.

"Where's Ash?" She asked him after they pulled apart.

"They're still looking for him. I thought they were still searching inside." Chris said. She shook her head at him.

"They told me that I was the last of it." She said, a look of concern coming over her face. Chris turned and grabbed one of the officers who was passing by.

"Do you know if they've finished searching the church?" Chris asked him. The officer nodded.

"As far as I know, yeah." He said.

"Did they find our son?" Chris asked him. The officer looked surprised.

"Not that I heard." He said, turning around to look for the captain. "Captain! Did we find the son?" He shouted over at him. The captain walked over to them, Kurt following him.

"We are still searching for your son, Mr. Irvine." The captain said, extending his hand to Chris.

"Please, it's Chris." Chris insisted.

"All right, Chris. The church has been cleared, but we're starting to search the grounds as well. The rain has slowed us down with that." He said.

"He was with two other men, the last time I heard." Chris told him. "Ted DiBiase and Ken Kennedy." The captain nodded.

"I'll send out an APB on those two as well." The captain said. "They won't get far."

**4:53** "If you can't get him to run any faster, I'm going to drag him." Kennedy threatened as they ran through the trees.

"Shut up, Ken." Ted said to him, holding on to Ash's good hand as he led the little boy.

"I want my Mommy." Ash whined.

"I'm telling you, man. We need to keep him quiet." Kennedy warned. He stopped for a moment to check his directions, then turned to the right a little bit.

"Do you know where you're going?" Ted asked him, before deciding to pick Ash up and run with him.

"I have an idea, yes." Kennedy snapped. "He said it would be around here, didn't he?"

"You're the one who answered the phone, how would I know?" Ted asked him.

"Oh shut up!" Kennedy shouted, as they came to a small clearing. There was a vehicle waiting for them, with its headlights turned off. They all climbed in.

"Where's Randy?" The woman in the driver's seat asked them.

"He's toast." Kennedy said. "Cops showed up." The woman shifted the SUV into drive and slammed on the gas, the tires throwing mud up behind them.

"Did he finish what he came here for?" She asked as she navigated swiftly through the trees. Ted held onto the back of Ken's seat.

"I don't know." Kennedy admitted. "Stephanie's out. I'm not sure about Chris."

"What did-" Ash started to ask, but Ted covered his mouth with his hand.

"He's not going to like that." She said.

"Well that isn't my problem. Our job was the boy, and we delivered." Kennedy told her. "He'll get over it."

"We'll see." She said, pulling onto the highway and speeding off.

**5:00**


	21. 5:00 to 6:00 AM

**A/N: Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really appreciate it! Only three more chapters remain after this one...**

**5:00-6:00AM**

**5:00** "Kurt…" Stephanie said, smiling as she put her hands on his shoulders. "If you don't loosen your grip, I think you're going to crush my ribs." She gasped. Kurt backed away from her instantly, keeping his hands on her shoulders - not breaking contact with her.

"I'm sorry," He said, a smile on his face as well. "I'm just so happy to see you. Chris…we thought you were dead." Kurt said. Stephanie glanced over to Chris who was standing in front of a screen, talking with the captain before looking back at Kurt.

"I know." She said to him. "I actually have _you_ to thank for that." Kurt wrinkled his brow.

"Really? Why?" He asked her.

"Because the jacket you brought me saved my life." She told him. His smile grew wider and he hugged her again. She started to laugh a little bit and pat him on the back.

"Oh Stephanie! I'm so happy you're okay!" Kurt gushed. He pulled away from her again and they made their way over to Chris, who had a line forming on his forehead. Stephanie's smile faded. She knew that line. It was his 'worry' line. She put a hand on his shoulder as she walked up to him and he turned to her, wrapping an arm around her and smiling a little. He kissed her on the forehead, still reassuring himself that she was there with him. She looked up to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked him. He sighed.

"Nothing…they just…haven't found him yet." He said. She wrapped her arm around him, rubbing her hand along his back to try and comfort him.

"It hasn't been that long, Chris. They couldn't have gotten far." She said. Chris set his jaw and looked away from her for a moment.

"Yeah. You're right." He said to her, looking back at the screen. The move didn't go unnoticed by Stephanie.

"What are you thinking?" She asked him. "Do you know something I don't?" He turned back to her and looked into her face. Her eyes were searching his face closely. He knew that she was looking for what he wasn't saying, hoping to find it on his face somewhere, and for a moment he debated about even saying anything.

"Walk with me." He whispered to her. She allowed him to lead her away from the captain and the central hub that was controlling the search for their son. When he finally stopped, she went to stand in front of him, tilting his chin up so that he was looking at her as he spoke and not anywhere else. He swallowed hard.

"What's on your mind, Chris?" She asked him.

"I'm not sure this is over." He admitted to her.

"What do you mean?" She asked. He looked away and she tried to bring his gaze back. He stayed silent for a few more moments before continuing.

"I mean I don't think that Randy is the end of our problems." He told her.

"What makes you think that?" She asked him. He sighed.

"Before…before I killed Randy he alluded to the possibility of there being other people who wanted to hurt Ash to get to me." He said. "He told me that if I let him live that he could help me find them." She gave him a look.

"You're not saying you _believe_ him?" She asked him. "Are you?" He looked away. "Chris!"

"I just…" He started, looking back at her again. "I don't know what to believe. The longer that they search for him without finding anything, the more concerned about this I get." He admitted. "This whole day, it's just been one thing after another – either it's you or him being dangled in front of me like a piece of meat in front of a starving man and it's just…it's wearing me down, Steph." He confessed. She raised a hand to stroke the side of his face. He leaned into her touch and she enveloped him in an embrace.

"They'll find him, Chris." She said soothingly.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked her, his face buried in her shoulder.

"Because there's no evidence to tell us otherwise." She told him. He sighed and pulled his head up again. Her heart ached at the sight of him. He was so tired…so…worn, and it was plain to see. He was right – this day _was_ wearing him down. She knew that his situation before today hadn't helped him either, which brought her a pang of guilt, but she chose to ignore it for now.

She watched him close his eyes for a moment and then blink rapidly a few times before looking down at her strangely. She wrinkled her brow at him.

"Chris?" She asked him – concern in her voice, but he waved her off.

"I'm fine." He said, shaking his head a little bit.

"Are you sure?" She asked. He looked at her and gave her a small smile.

"I'm sure." She gave him a look that said she didn't believe him, but let him slide. They started to walk back towards the captain and she felt his hand digging into her shoulder. She looked up at him and saw that his face had paled drastically in the last few seconds and he was looking straight down. She stopped him and stepped in front of him again.

"I'm fine." He said through gritted teeth. "I just feel a little woozy." He told her. She studied him carefully.

"You're more than just a little woozy." She told him. He looked at her for a brief moment like he was going to say something more to her, but his eyes rolled back and he suddenly went limp.

"Chris!" She shouted at him, grabbing hold of him any way she could to keep him from smacking the ground. It was a hard feat to accomplish since he was about 230 pounds of dead weight collapsing on her small frame. Two officers that happened to be near them rushed over to help her maneuver him to the ground gently and one ran off to find the medic. She clutched one of his hands in hers as she knelt next to him. And she refused to acknowledge the cold fear that started to creep its way through her belly.

**5:17** This woman was going to kill them.

Ted had been gripping onto the door of the vehicle ever since they'd taken off and he was sure that at any moment she was going to strike a tree or something and kill all of them. He'd made the mistake of looking at the speedometer once and noticed that they were doing about 70 miles per hour. On an interstate, that might have been permissible. Unfortunately, they weren't driving on the interstate - they were driving in the woods.

Trees were flying by at a rapid pace – some of them within inches of the window in front of him. One had taken out the passenger side mirror and she hadn't even flinched. Ted hadn't dared to look out the window after that. He was trying to pay attention to what she and Kennedy were talking about without making it _obvious_ that he was listening to them. He found himself staring at Ash, who was sitting next to him, and seemingly enjoying the rate at which things were flying past his view. Like it was an amusement park ride.

Ted wasn't sure why it was necessary to bring him along, or even what the game plan was, really. He thought that whoever Kennedy had been dealing with over the phone this whole time was the head honcho of this whole operation, but apparently that wasn't the case. Apparently, Kennedy had only talked to the _assistant_ of the main man, and their deal had been negotiated through him.

He wasn't particularly comfortable with the idea that there was a middle man working their deal – he was more of a face-to-face type of person. He wanted to deal with whoever he was working for directly, not have someone else be the go-between.

"How much longer?" Kennedy asked her.

"Just a few more minutes." She said. Ted had discovered through their conversation that her name was Katie Lea. He wasn't sure if the 'Lea' was supposed to be a middle name or a last name, but he decided not to put too much thought into figuring it out. It probably wasn't her real name, anyway.

A few more seconds of trees flying past and they finally pulled out onto a road. She yanked the steering wheel to the left and the SUV tilted so far that only two of its wheels were touching the ground. Ted squeezed his eyes shut and willed the other side of the vehicle to go back down so that it wouldn't flip. After a few more seconds of tilted panic, it rocked back and all four tires were on the ground. Ted thanked his lucky stars and opened his eyes again. He would be glad to get the hell out of this vehicle.

**5:28** The sky was slowly starting to change into the gray color of morning as the medic stuck the IV in Chris's arm. He was sitting on the back of the ambulance again and Stephanie was standing next to him, wearing her own worry line as she studied him. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"I'm fine Stephanie." He said to her as the medic walked away for a moment.

"That's what you said before you passed out." She reminded him.

"You heard what he said – I was dehydrated." He said calmly. "That's why he's giving me the IV, to replenish some of the fluids I lost until they can get me to the hospital."

"I just don't understand why you won't go _now_." She said. "Let them take a look at you and make sure you're okay." She pleaded with him.

"Stephanie, I am not going anywhere." He said to her. "I am going to wait here with you until they find our son. I'm going to see this thing through. The only way I'm leaving is with **both** of you. I'm not letting either one of you out of my sight." She let out a sigh and knew that there was no point in continuing to argue with him. His mind was made up. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to him as she stared off at the cluster of officers that were walking around.

A part of her was glad that he was staying to see the rest of this through with her, but the other part of her – the part that was concerned for his health and well being – knew that he should be on his way to the hospital to be examined thoroughly.

"I promise you, I'm okay." He said to her softly. She turned to look at him once again.

"Promise to tell me if you start feeling otherwise?" She asked him. He kept his gaze with her for a moment before finally nodding.

"Yes." He said.

"Yes what?" She asked him, holding a hand up to her ear. He smirked.

"Yes, I promise to tell you if I start feeling worse….mother." He said to her and she smiled at him. Kurt came jogging up to them.

"Chris, are you okay?" Kurt asked in a rush. "I just heard-" Chris nodded and waved him off.

"I'm fine Kurt. Just tired." He said, cutting Kurt off. "What's up?"

"They found Ash's tracks in the woods." Kurt told them. Chris and Stephanie smiled.

"That's great news, Kurt!" She said, her face lighting up. "They'll find him in no time, now, right?" She asked. Kurt looked torn about something.

"What is it?" Chris asked him, knowing that there was a second part to this. Kurt gave them both an apologetic look.

"They found two other distinct tracks with his." Kurt said.

"Kennedy and Ted." Chris said lowly and Kurt nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. They all lead to a clearing where there's a set of fresh tire tracks." He said. Chris shrugged.

"So why can't they just follow the tire tracks?" Chris asked him. Kurt hesitated a moment.

"Because it rained pretty hard in that spot before they got there. The ground was already wet when the tracks were made and with the water from the rain…" he trailed off.

"There isn't much of a track left to trace." Stephanie finished for him. He nodded weakly. Chris let out a deep breath and closed his eyes as he looked up towards the roof of the ambulance. Frustration was too weak a word for what he was feeling. He was _so close_ in having his family back, but there was always something else that would come along right behind him and screw it up again.

"I'm sorry." Kurt apologized.

"It's not your fault, Kurt." Steph said to him, and he walked back over to the captain. Stephanie turned to Chris.

"It never ends, Stephanie." He said to her, bringing his head back down to look at her. "It _never_ ends." He laughed humorlessly. "Randy was right." He paused. "The son of a bitch was _**right**_ and I killed him." He shook his head.

"There was no way that you could have known that he was telling the truth." Stephanie said to him, rubbing his back with her hand. "I would have done the same thing."

"How are we going to find him, Steph?" He asked her hopelessly.

"I don't think we'll have to." She said to him. He looked at her. "Whoever took him wants something from us." She said. "They took him for a reason. You told me that earlier today when we first found out he was gone." He nodded.

"They need him for something." He agreed. "The question now is _what_."

**5:53 **Ted glanced up to look at the small charter plane that was in the hangar that he now stood. He remembered Randy telling him how the church was in such a remote location that no one would figure it out… Maybe it wasn't so much remote as it was owned by someone that Randy was friends with. Someone with money. Ash was walking along beside him, looking at the plane with great interest. If Ted knew anything about planes he would have been tempted to tell the boy something about it, but planes weren't exactly his forte.

Kennedy was pacing around nervously behind him and it was starting to get on Ted's nerves to hear him sigh every ten or fifteen seconds. Ken had no one but himself to blame for the way that this was set up. Ted glanced at his watch and wondered how much longer Katie Lea was going to spend talking to this intermediary. What all could she possibly have to say to him? The man was a go-between. All she should have to tell him is that they were here and they had the boy. That guy should call the head boss and then they get paid for a job well done.

Yeah right.

After what seemed like an eternity, the lone door on the far end of the hangar finally opened again and Katie Lea emerged from it, followed by a short man in a navy blue suit. Ted squinted and Kennedy walked up beside him.

"Is that who I think that is?" Kennedy asked him.

"You talked to him on the phone, you should know who it is." Ted reminded him. Kennedy shot him a dirty look.

"Just because I talked to him on the phone doesn't mean I automatically know who he is." Kennedy snapped. "People sound different on the phone than they do when you actually talk to them." He defended. Ted rolled his eyes.

"Who do you think is pulling the strings behind him?" Ted mumbled to Kennedy as the man got closer. He patted Ash on the head and smiled at him and continued on to stop in front of Ted and Kennedy.

"Gentlemen." He said, extending his hand. Kennedy shook it first and Ted followed suit.

"Mike." Kennedy said. Mike Adamle smiled at them and straightened his tie for a moment.

"First off, I feel that I must apologize for our boss's tardiness. He meant to be here and meet with the two of you when you arrived, but he is currently engrossed in a conversation that is important to our next step." He said. Kennedy and Ted nodded.

"That's fine." Kennedy told him. "We can just take our payment and be on our way."

"Actually, he thought that you guys might be an invaluable asset to the second step of this plan, since you were successful in helping Randy out with the implementation of his step. That's more than we can say for Randy himself." Mike admitted. Kennedy looked at Ted, who looked anything but pleased at the news. Kennedy shrugged.

"What do you need us to do?" Kennedy asked him.

**6:00**


	22. 6:00 to 7:00 AM

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so long, had a little bit of writer's block to trudge through. Hopefully it's over now. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, as always. I'm always glad to hear what you guys have to say so make sure to keep them coming! We only have two more chapters to go. If there are things to tie up afterwards, I might add an epilogue, but I'll leave that up to all of you to decide. In the meantime, enjoy the new chapter!**

**6:00 – 7:00AM**

**6:00** Chris winced as the medic pulled the IV from his arm. He looked over to Stephanie, who had her gaze fixed in the direction of the brightening horizon. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, about him, about what had happened between them…but there wasn't time for it. They needed to find their son and bring an end to this horrendous day before he could even entertain the notion of them getting back together. He glanced down at his arm that the medic had bandaged and thanked him as he hopped off the back of the ambulance to walk over to her. She turned to face him as he approached.

"All done?" she asked him. He nodded.

"Good as new." He said to her, forcing a smile. She smiled back at him a little bit and turned to face the horizon once more. He knew what she was thinking.

"We'll get him back, Stephanie." He promised her. "He's going to be okay."

"Will he?" She asked him, facing him to reveal the tears in her eyes. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, he will." He said, reassuring her. "We just have to keep on our toes. We'll get him back." He repeated, wrapping his arm around her.

"It's just…when I think of everything that he's been through today…all that he's seen…" She trailed off and he nodded.

"I know what you mean." He said to her. "I wish that he didn't have to know about things like this." He admitted. "But he's our son. And as long as we're there for him, he'll be just fine." Stephanie rested her head on his shoulder and allowed a few tears to slip from her eyes. Much like Chris, the day had taken its toll on her. In the years that had followed their last horrible day she had allowed herself to forget what it was like to be constantly paranoid and on edge – to never feel safe. She had let her guard down and today was the biggest shock that she had felt in a very long time.

"I'm so glad you're here with me." She told him. He tilted her chin up to look at her.

"That makes two of us." He said, kissing her lightly before a cell phone started to ring. They broke apart and he looked at her.

"Is that your phone?" He asked her. She shook her head as she started to check her pockets.

"No…I haven't had my phone since the warehouse. I had Kurt's for a while, but I think Randy took that one. Do you have one?" She asked. He started to shake his head as he checked his pockets, but then his expression turned confused as he dug in his pocket to find the ringing device. He briefly wondered when and where the phone had come from before pulling it out and looking at the caller ID before flipping it open.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hello, Chris." A woman on the other end of the line spoke.

"Who is this?" He asked her.

"I wouldn't worry about that." She said. "Just know that unless you do as I say, I'll be the last person to see your son alive." Chris looked at Stephanie and set his jaw.

"I understand. "He said.

"Good." She told him. "Now, there's an address I need you to remember. 14964 Independence." She said.

"1-4-9-6-4 Independence." Chris repeated.

"That's right." She said to him. "If you want your son back, you and Stephanie need to be at that address in fifty minutes."

"I don't even know where that is! How do you expect me to get there in fifty minutes?" Chris asked her.

"Your ex-wife should be able to help you with that." The woman said. "The address is a place I'm sure she knows."

"I want to speak to my son." He demanded. "Prove to me that he's there with you." He heard rustling on the other end of the phone.

"Daddy?" Ash's voice came over the line.

"Ash! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Chris shouted into the phone.

"I'm –" Ash started to answer, but was silenced. The woman came back onto the line.

"Remember Chris, fifty minutes. Oh, and do make sure to leave the police out of it. I don't think I have to tell you what will happen if you involve them." The woman said before hanging up. Chris flipped the phone shut. Stephanie was staring at him anxiously.

"Well, what's happening? What do they want?" She asked him nervously.

"They want us to be at the address I read off on Independence in fifty minutes." He said, looking down at the phone for a second. "If we tell the cops, they'll kill him." Stephanie closed her eyes in horror. Chris paused for a moment before speaking again. "She said that you would know the address." He told her. She opened her eyes to look at him again.

"Why would I know the address?" She asked him. Chris shrugged.

"I guess you've been there before." He said to her. "Do you know it?" She took a deep breath and thought about it for a moment.

"It doesn't _sound_ familiar…" She said, trailing off. "Maybe I've been there and just never knew the address?" Chris shrugged again and looked down at the phone to check the time.

"Well, if we're going to do this, we need to move." He said to her. "We've lost a few minutes by talking here."

"How are we supposed to get there? It's not like we have a car here." She pointed out to him. He seemed to be thinking. He stared in the direction of the police that were still going over the area. She followed his gaze and turned to look at him again.

"You can't be thinking what I think you are." She said to him in a warning tone.

"How else are you planning on getting to an address in about forty-five minutes?" He asked her.

"Chris, if we can't tell the police about this, then how are we going to get them to let us take one of their cars?" She asked him.

"We're not going to ask them for it." He said. She scoffed at him.

"And how do you plan on getting the keys to a police car without asking them?" She asked.

"Why do you need the keys to a police car?" Kurt asked them, walking up. Chris and Stephanie exchanged a glance before looking at him. It didn't go unnoticed.

"They called, didn't they?" He asked them. "They made a demand." Chris sighed.

"Look Kurt, the less you know, the better. We can't tell the police anything or Ash will die." Chris told him. "We need to get to a car, can you help us out?" He asked. Kurt nodded, producing a set of keys from his pocket. They both stared at him.

"I told them I was planning on trying to take you two away from here." Kurt supplied. "And while it's not a cop car, it'll work." He said. Chris stepped towards him to grab the keys, but Kurt pulled them out of his grasp.

"You get the keys on one condition." Kurt said to them. Chris sighed and gave him a look.

"What, Kurt?" He asked.

"I'm going with you." He said.

"Absolutely not." Chris said. "They asked for me and Steph, not you. I don't want to do anything that will jeopardize Ash."

"I can stay in the car, call the police if we need it." Kurt argued. "C'mon, Chris. I'll stay out of sight." He promised. Chris turned to Stephanie for a moment before finally nodding.

"Fine, Kurt, whatever. I don't have time to argue with you." He said. Kurt handed him the keys and they started towards a black SUV parked not far from where they were standing.

"What do they want you guys to do?" Kurt asked him.

"Right now, we're just supposed to be heading to an address." Stephanie said as they climbed in. Chris started the vehicle and sped off. Stephanie pulled the GPS system off of the dash and typed in the address.

"Thank God for small favors." She muttered, waiting for the system to give them directions. Chris yanked the steering wheel right to turn onto the highway. She looked at him.

"Are you going to be okay to drive?" She asked him. He kept his eyes on the road.

"I'll be fine, Stephanie." He said to her.

"It says it's going to take us at least an hour to get there." She told him. He set his jaw.

"Guess that means we're going to be speeding, huh?" He asked her.

"Doesn't look like a road you want to speed on." She commented. He glanced over at the screen and let out a breath.

"We don't have much of a choice at this point." He said grimly.

**6:15** Katie handed the phone back to Mike as she walked back into the hangar with Ash.

"How did it go?" Mike asked her.

"He'll be there." She said. Kennedy looked up at her from the chair that he was sitting in.

"So when do we need to get there?" He asked them. Mike looked at his watch.

"Not for a while yet. He'll call us when he's ready for us." He said. Ted leaned his head back against the wall.

"So what are we supposed to do until then?" Ted asked him. "Just sit here and wait?" Adamle nodded slightly and Ted sighed in irritation.

"I don't like all of this waiting around." He admitted to them.

"Why are you so anxious to get out of here?" Kennedy asked him, turning in his direction. "What, do you have a hot date or something?" He asked. Ted looked at him for a moment.

"No, I just don't like sitting around waiting for things to happen when the police are out there looking for us." He said to him. Adamle shook his head.

"The police aren't looking for you." He said.

"And how do you know that?" Ted asked him.

"Because he's got the police under his thumb. They do what he wants them to do. You guys have nothing to worry about." He said, trying to reassure them. Ted shook his head and stood up.

"I'll believe that when this whole thing is over with." He said, walking outside. He heard the others start to engage themselves in conversation as he stood there. He fished in his pocket for his phone and pulled it out to look at it for a moment. He wondered briefly if he should call, and then thought about what Adamle just told him. He debated about it for a second before sticking it back in his pocket. If the police were compromised, then there was no point in calling in his progress, it would only blow his cover. He looked back at the three of them, wondering if they already knew that he wasn't on their side, but then deciding that if they knew, he'd be dead.

He just hoped that no one involved in his operation blabbed their mouth to the wrong person, otherwise he'd have one hell of a problem.

**6:27** "Does any of this look familiar to you?" Chris asked Stephanie as they drove. Stephanie had been looking around as they continued on, trying to figure out why the woman had said that she would know this place. She didn't think that she been anywhere near here.

"Nothing looks familiar." She said to him.

"Are you sure?" He asked. She sighed at him.

"Yes Chris." She said, slightly irritated. "If I recognized it, I would tell you." Kurt looked up to the front of the vehicle at the two of them. They rode on in silence for a few more minutes.

"I'm sorry." Chris said to her quietly. "I just…I want to try and understand what we're up against here." He said. "I want to know why they think you would know this place." She nodded.

"I know, I'm trying to figure it out myself." She said to him. They passed a small pond quickly and Stephanie started to think. Something about that was ringing a bell in her mind. She wrinkled her brow. It was something - just out of reach of her conscious mind, but enough to make her aware of the fact that she didn't know it. They passed a few more signs when the memory came back to her.

"_Shane, don't go too close to the water." Stephanie's mother, Linda, warned him. They were walking towards the pond and Linda had a hold of Stephanie's hand as Shane ran out in front of them._

"_It's frozen over!" Shane shouted back to Linda. "It's fine!" Stephanie heard her mother sigh and looked up to see her father walking next to them._

"_He's your son." Her mother said. Vince had smiled._

"_What are you talking about? He gets that from you." Vince insisted, before kissing her briefly. Stephanie had smiled at that moment._

The memory faded from her mind and she was back to staring at the trees flying by. She took a deep breath to try and pull her emotions in check. That was one of the last times that her parents had taken a trip together. They'd been there several times before, since they actually owned property back here somewhere. Vince had bought it for Linda, promising that it would be their getaway from the hustle and bustle that came with their busy lives. Stephanie only remembered being there twice. Once in the winter when the whole family had come, and then once more in the summer when Vince had been "too busy" to come.

In reality, she knew that he didn't come because her mother simply wanted to get away from him. Not that he was a bad husband, but she simply couldn't stand to be around the rushed atmosphere that his job always provided. She tried to bring him out of it as much as she could, but after a while he didn't _want_ to be pulled away, and she stopped wanting to try.

Stephanie shook her head a little bit at the irony. She had become what she never wanted to be – her parents. She turned to Chris.

"I recognize this place." She said to him. He turned to her briefly.

"What, right here?" He asked, motioning to the building they were passing. She shook her head.

"No, the pond that we passed a while back…my dad owned a house back here." She said. Chris looked at her. "I was only there a couple of times. Dad never really had the time to take long trips to the middle of nowhere." She told him.

"I thought that you had sold all of his other properties?" Chris asked her.

"I thought I did too, but he never had any record of owning this place with the rest of his stuff." She said. "I forgot all about it."

"You think that's where we're headed? To your Dad's old vacation home?" He asked her. She looked at him.

"Why else would the woman think I knew where it was?" She asked. He turned back to the road.

"What the hell do they want there?" He asked, more to himself than to either of them. Kurt leaned back in his seat again and stared out the window. Chris glanced over at Stephanie again.

"Hey," He said to her gently. "You okay?" He asked. He'd caught a tear rolling down her cheek out of the corner of his eye. She nodded and turned to him.

"Yeah…" she said. "Just remembering what it was like." She told him.

"What what was like?" He asked her.

"Being a kid. Being normal…not looking over your shoulder for everything." She said to him. "What it was like having my parents get along. Before everything was about how much money the company was making and what new talent we were going to sign…" She trailed off, looking out the windshield.

"You're going to have to turn right, up ahead." She told him, changing the subject. Chris remained silent as he turned onto an old county road.

"I never knew your Dad was the kind of guy who liked to live in the country." Kurt said.

"He wasn't." Stephanie told him. "This house was more for my mom than him. His way of making up for his shortcomings, I suppose." She said. "The next turn is a left." She pointed it out to him. "How could I have forgotten about this place?" She wondered out loud. "My favorite Christmas was here." Chris continued to drive in silence, taking in everything that Stephanie was saying as he followed her directions, not really relying on the GPS anymore. He was rolling the whole thing over in his mind. Whoever had taken Ash wanted them to go to an old house that Vince McMahon had once owned. A place that Stephanie herself had only been two a handful of times, and apparently at a very young age, since she had forgotten that it even existed until driving past a familiar sight.

How had these people known that Vince had owned this property when his own daughter – his only living relative – didn't remember it? Chris didn't like the unanswered questions that were starting to pop up at this recent development. Something just didn't seem right about the whole thing.

"It's right here." She said, pointing out the long driveway to him. Chris had to slow down suddenly to make the turn, wondering how the hell he ever would have found this place if Stephanie hadn't remembered that she had been there. The driveway took them through an archway of trees, almost like a tunnel until they finally emerged to see a large, colonial house at the top of a hill. Chris was surprised to see how nice of a house it was, even despite the fact that no one had been there or lived in it for a very long time.

**6:53 **He pulled up next to it and parked the SUV, turning it off as Stephanie got out. He motioned for Kurt to get down in the back as he climbed out himself.

Stephanie was running her hands over the railing to the steps as Chris walked up. He could tell that she was thinking about her childhood and the moments that she had spent there, but he made sure to keep himself aware. There was a reason they wanted them to be here. There was a reason that Ash had been taken, and he wanted to know what that reason was. The front door opened and a man stepped out from the house.

"Your old man had some taste, Stephanie." He commented. Chris and Stephanie both turned simultaneously to face the man who had emerged. "You're right on time, too."

"What the hell do you want from us?" Chris asked him, pulling Stephanie to him. "Where's Ash?" John 'Bradshaw' Layfield smiled at Chris's questions.

"Your son will be here soon, provided that Stephanie can deliver." John said.

"Deliver what?" She asked him.

"Why don't we come in and talk about it?" John suggested. Chris and Stephanie remained where they were. He sighed and pulled his pistol out from behind him and aimed it at them. "I insist."

**7:00**


	23. 7:00 to 8:00 AM

**A/N: Well, there's only one more chapter to go after this one, plus an epilogue (just for you Nina!). Sort of a bittersweet thought. :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and if you've got some free time and want more Jericho and Steph make sure to check out my other story _Visions_. And now...**

**7:00-8:00AM**

**7:00** Chris and Stephanie looked at each other for a moment, intertwining their hands before ascending the handful of steps to the front porch together. They both glared at JBL as they passed, Chris taking the first step into the house. There was nothing particularly special about it. It certainly wasn't a home that a multi-millionaire like Vince McMahon would have boasted about to his other millionaire friends, but it was quaint in its own right. The front door opened into a hallway with a staircase leading to the second floor. There were two rooms that were immediately adjacent to the hallway – one being the living room and the other either the dining room or the kitchen since Chris could see the edge of a table in it. Unfortunately, he had been too busy taking in everything around him to notice the large man that was suddenly leaping towards him.

Stephanie screamed Chris's name as the large man's fist connected with Chris's lower abdomen. The force of the blow caused Chris to double over in pain – the surprise of the attack only intensifying it. Stephanie started to reach towards him and help him, when JBL grabbed her wrist and held her back. She struggled against him, yanking her arm to try and free herself from him as Chris's hands were being duct-taped behind his back.

"What do you want from us?!" Stephanie screamed at JBL. The other man had finished with Chris's hands and had shoved him to the hardwood floor. JBL smiled at her.

"All in good time." He promised her. The man grabbed Chris's thrashing ankles and began to tape those together as well.

"Where is Ash?" She shouted, still trying to free her arm from him. "Where is _my son_?" JBL nodded reassuringly.

"I've already made the call. He'll be here soon." JBL told her. "First, we need to talk – did you tell the police anything about this?" He asked her. She shook her head at him.

"No." She said. JBL stared at her intently.

"Don't lie to me, Stephanie." He warned. "You don't want anything bad to happen to Ash now, do you?"

"I'm telling you the truth!" She insisted. He continued to stare at her. After a few more moments, he looked over at his henchman.

"Check outside when you're done. I want to make sure she's telling the truth." He instructed. The man nodded and yanked Chris to his feet. JBL turned to Stephanie. "Let's move to the living room, shall we?" He thrust her into the room and then shoved her onto the sofa on the far side. The other man flopped Chris down beside her before walking outside.

"First off, Chris, I must apologize for having Ian do that to you." JBL said. "You see, I'm a very prominent businessman now and I want to make sure that there are no…unknown factors in the deals I make. You're simply too much of a wild card to be allowed to roam free. It's nothing personal." Chris glared at him with his jaw clenched tightly.

"I understand that you've already had a couple of hardships today with the whole Randy Orton fiasco." JBL started. "I'm afraid I have to apologize for that as well. You see, Bret Hart was actually working for me. His task was to simply keep an eye on you two and let me know your whereabouts when I asked for them. Unfortunately, I misjudged the amount of emotional trauma that Bret was dealing with and didn't expect him to extract revenge on Shawn at the same time, nor did I expect him to align himself with Randy Orton.

"I _was_ aware, however, that Randy and Paul Heyman were working towards some type of revenge plot against the two of you, since I was approached about helping them. Lucky for you, I know how to separate my personal life from my business decisions and I was not going to let my personal vendetta against you two for firing me get in the way of what I really wanted today."

"But you were going to let them kill us anyway?" Chris asked him. JBL shook his head.

"Their plans were doomed from the beginning. I have people everywhere, Chris. People that can be invisible when the time is right, and I knew exactly what they were doing the whole step of the way. People that Bret and Randy liked to think were working for them, but were really reporting to me. People like Ken Kennedy, Ted DiBiase, and Mark Callaway. Randy was never going to succeed with his plan."

"Well, then I think your people suck at relaying messages." Chris told him. "Randy almost **did** succeed." JBL shook his head in disagreement.

"Only because you're looking at the puzzle without all of the pieces, Chris." JBL told him. "Randy was dead from the moment he stepped through that prison gate. Even if you wouldn't have killed him, he would have been dead in another four hours or so." He said nonchalantly.

"What about when he was going to kill us?" Chris asked him. "What about the fact that if Kurt Angle hadn't gotten a flak jacket for Stephanie, she would have been dead and your whole plan of having her get something for you would have been ruined."

"Even if Kurt wouldn't have asked them for the jacket, she would have gotten one. The policemen here are all under my thumb. On top of that, I knew what Randy was planning, and I wasn't about to let her go back in unprotected." He said, winking at her. She glared at him. Chris was shaking his head in disbelief.

"If you could manage all of that, then why in the _hell_ do you need us?" He asked him.

"Well, technically, I don't need both of you. I only need **her**." He said, pointing to Stephanie. "**You** were expendable at any point, but necessary to add to the equation if I wanted _her_ to do anything. I know the lengths you would go to for her, Chris. The kind of havoc you would bring. I felt it best to keep you contained where I could keep an eye on you. Same thing with your son. I needed to keep tabs on him since I knew that Stephanie would be willing to help me if I provided her with the proper…motivation." The man that JBL had called Ian walked back in at that moment.

"There's no one here." He told JBL. "She's telling the truth." Chris and Stephanie both let out an undetected sigh of relief. They were sure that Kurt was going to be found and it would cause them problems with Ash. Kurt continued to be the man of the hour.

"What do you want from me?" Stephanie asked JBL, forcing him to turn back towards them again. He studied her for a moment before speaking.

"What do you remember about this house, Stephanie?" He asked her. She took a deep breath, while shaking her head.

"Not much." She admitted. "I know that my father bought it for my mother once upon a time. It was sort of a getaway for them. I only remember being here a couple of times."

"Did you know that this is the house where your father kept most of his assets hidden away?" He asked her. "I'm sure you must have noticed when you were settling his estate that there was a lot of money that was supposed to be there that wasn't."

"How did you…" She asked him, but he cut her off.

"I know that those assets are hidden in the basement of this house in a special, custom made vault that your father had installed before your family was ever here. I know that it was a state-of-the-art vault and that it is highly sophisticated, even by today's standards. I know that the combination to the vault involves not only a password, but also a five digit numerical code. I know just about everything that there is to know about your family, Steph. Except for one thing – the combination to that vault." He said to her. "_That's_ where you come in." Stephanie scoffed at him.

"What makes you think that I know what the combination is?" She asked him. "I didn't even remember that he **owned** this house!"

"Because he seems to think that the combination has something to do with you." JBL said.

"You make it sound like my father is still alive." Stephanie told him, a trace of humor in her voice.

**7:21** "Your father _**is**_ still alive." He said. She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head in denial.

"No, no, he's dead." She said to him. "I went to his _funeral_." She insisted.

"A funeral that involved a closed casket, if my memory serves me correctly." He said to her. "I believe they stated that they never could find the body. Odd, wouldn't you say, considering the remains of Chris's father were found and they died in the same room." He paused. "Think about it! How _else_ would I know all of this, Stephanie? How else would I know about this place? **You** couldn't even remember it and you _were here_!" He told her.

"If that's true, then why now?" She asked him. "Why has it taken you almost ten years to do this?"

"Because your father is a man with more resources than I could ever dream of having. He's a hard man to track down. When he learned that the whole world thought he was dead, he did everything he could to keep it that way. As much as he loved the wrestling business, he knew that the events of that day would ruin him if he was found to be alive." JBL told her.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"That whole day had centered around Eric Bischoff and Hunter getting back at the two of you for surviving a car wreck that killed Eric's wife and children. Not only were your mother and brother involved in that – your father was too." JBL said.

"You're full of shit." She told him. "My father had nothing to do with that. The investigation afterwards proved his innocence."

"_In the events of that day_." JBL emphasized. "No one thought to look deep enough to the _root_ of the day…what made it happen."

"The wreck." Chris mumbled. JBL held a hand out to him and nodded appreciatively.

"Precisely." JBL told him. Stephanie wrinkled her brow in confusion.

"So what are you trying to say?" She asked him. "That my father was somehow involved in causing the wreck that started this whole mess?"

"You got it." He said.

"This is ridiculous." She spat at him, leaning back against the sofa and crossing her arms.

"Is it, really, Stephanie?" JBL asked her. "You know as well as I do that your father never _truly_ approved of Chris. Isn't that why you dumped him afterwards? Because of what your family was saying about him? They told you on almost a daily basis that he wasn't good enough for you, that you shouldn't be dating someone who was working for a rival company. After the wreck, you started listening to them a lot more and you finally started to believe that it was true. Well, your father wanted to take Chris out of the equation before that. Granted, the car wreck wasn't _exactly_ what he had in mind, but he wasn't too specific on his instructions." Chris felt his stomach flip.

"You." He breathed. "You were involved." The corners of JBL's mouth turned up slightly.

"Yes I was." He admitted. "**I** was the one who caused you to wreck that night. I wasn't quite as careful in my younger days, since I didn't realize that she was in the car with you, but it all worked out in the end." Stephanie's jaw dropped. Chris shook his head again.

"How could you have made us wreck? The car lost control!" Chris told him.

"I made sure that your tires had the least amount of tread on them that they could possibly get. I tweaked your power steering and anti-lock brakes so that you wouldn't be able to recover the car should something go wrong. Then I made sure that something did." JBL told him. "Of course, Vince was less than thrilled at the outcome, since I had put Stephanie's life in danger, and he made my life a living hell for a while. Now, I'm here to collect on the debt he owes me." Silence filled the room for a little bit.

"Okay, so let's just say that I believe you for a minute." Stephanie told him. "I still don't understand something. If my father was the one who told you all of these things, why doesn't **he** tell you what the code is? I mean, for something that important…he wouldn't have forgotten that."

"You're right. He wouldn't." JBL agreed with her. "But unfortunately there's another twist in the story. It took me the majority of this time to **find** your father, since he never stayed in one place for long and had more identities that all of the wrestlers that came through his company. He was a lot easier to find when he started getting sloppy, though. Once I **did** catch up with him, I found out that he wasn't just running from that." He paused. "Your father isn't in the best medical shape right now, Stephanie. When I caught up with him, I started doing everything in my power to keep it from happening, but nothing has really worked for him."

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked tentatively.

"Your father is suffering from Alzheimer's." JBL told her. "Each day that passes, his memory deteriorates a little more. When I found him, he didn't remember me. Some days he remembers certain things, and the next he won't. It's been very patchy. The only time he gave me an answer for the combination to the vault was to say that it 'involved a little girl'. You were the logical choice."

"So basically, what you're saying is that this whole mess is about robbing a 60 year old man with Alzheimer's because he didn't pay you for trying to kill someone about ten years ago? That about right?" Chris asked him.

"In so many words, yes." JBL told him. "My company is in need of a financial boost at the moment, so what better time to dig in and make a large investment with the money of a man who owes me?" Chris scoffed at him.

"'_Prominent business man'_" He said distastefully, repeating JBL's explanation from earlier. "You're nothing more than a glorified thief." JBL shrugged.

"To each their own, Chris. To each their own." He said, dismissing him. He turned to Stephanie. "Now, here is my proposal to you. If you can manage to get the vault open, I will let you and your family go. We will never cross paths again, and you will all be left to live your lives in peace." He told her. "Whatever is in the vault is mine to keep and you get to go free. Do we have a deal?" Stephanie regarded him for a moment.

"Yes, we have a deal." She said. JBL smiled.

"Splendid!" He said, standing up.

"But what if I can't get it open?" She asked him. "What if I can't come up with the right combination?" JBL looked at her.

"Oh Stephanie, I have faith that you'll be able to figure it out." He told her.

"And if I don't?" She prompted him. He studied her.

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there." He told her, glancing out the window as another vehicle pulled up. He glanced at his watch. "Perfect timing." He said to himself. He nodded to Ian to have him answer the door.

"I want to see my son before we start this." Stephanie told him. "I want to make sure that he's all right."

"Fine." JBL said. "He's on his way inside." JBL walked over to stand next to Ian at that point and Stephanie turned to Chris.

"What do you think about all of this?" She asked him. "Do you think that it's true? That my father is not only alive but had something to do with the wreck?" Chris shrugged halfheartedly.

"Does it really matter?" He asked. "I mean, it all happened so long ago, is it worth getting upset about at this point? If what JBL said was true, then your father didn't plan for the wreck to happen – that was all JBL. Your father obviously felt responsible for it, since he punished him for it."Chris said as the door opened and they hear people starting to walk into the house. "You and I both know that your father was no saint, but he wasn't a cold-blooded killer, either. He was a man who fought to protect what he loved, even if he was a little misguided." He told her. Stephanie stared at him for a moment before nodding.

**7:48 **"Mommy! Daddy!" Ash shouted as he ran towards them through the doorway. Chris and Stephanie's faces both brightened immediately and Stephanie held her arms out to catch her son as he lunged towards them. He leapt into them, and Stephanie hugged him tightly. He reached for Chris after a few moments and she let him go to him. There were no words that they could say to Ash to make him feel safe and secure in that moment, but there was no need. Just being in the presence of his parents made him feel that way.

"Where's Katie?" JBL was asking Adamle as they re-entered the living room.

"She had some family function that she was supposed to go to today. I didn't think we needed her for this." Adamle told him.

"We don't." JBL said. "I just like knowing where all of my people are." Kennedy and Ted walked in after them, followed by Ian.

"What kind of timetable are we on?" Adamle asked. JBL let out a sigh.

"I don't have one for this part." He admitted. "There's no telling how long it might take for her to come up with the right code." Adamle scoffed at him.

"She might never get it right!" He said harshly. "How long are you willing to sit and wait on this?" JBL studied him seriously.

"As long as it takes." He told him, before turning to Stephanie again. "Stephanie." He said. She looked up from Chris and Ash. "It's time to start." Stephanie turned back to Chris for a moment who nodded her on. She stood up and walked over to JBL, who led her towards the basement. Kennedy and Ian started a conversation about what football team was more superior and Adamle wandered into another room to make a phone call. Ted walked across the room and sat down on the sofa next to Chris and Ash. Chris looked at him mistrustfully.

"Do you think we'll get to ride in the airplane next?" Ash asked Ted. Ted looked at Chris for a moment before answering.

"I…don't think so." Ted told him nicely.

"How much is he paying you for this?" Chris asked. Ted shook his head.

"It's not what you think." He told Chris.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure it's exactly what I think." Chris told him. Ted leaned forward, putting one of his hands behind Chris's back.

"I think you're wrong." He told him, before leaning back against the sofa again. Chris narrowed his eyes at Ted in confusion before realizing that Ted had slipped him something. He moved it around in his hands the best he could, trying to get a feel for what it was.

It was a switch blade.

Chris turned to say something to Ted, but Ted shook his head. "Just be ready." He mouthed to him.

**7:53** Stephanie was reaching for the handle to the door in the basement when JBL stopped her.

"Before you enter this, you need to know two things." JBL said. "The first being that the word portion of the combination has eight letters. Capitalization means nothing, so as long as you come up with the right word, you'll have it." Stephanie nodded.

"What happens if I enter a wrong word?" She asked.

"I had a few people look at it, and they were at least able to make it so that you will be able to enter in as many different combinations as you feel like without having to worry about the vault's security system kicking in." JBL told her.

"So what's the second thing?" She asked him.

"Your father is in that room." He told her. She opened her mouth to say something when he cut her off. "I thought that at the very least the sight of you might get him to remember the password, or maybe you would be able to ask him questions to help you. It's a long shot, but it's all I can offer in the way of help."

"Why?" She asked him. "Why are you trying to help me?"

"I told you before Stephanie. I'm not interested in whatever kind of drama is going on in your life at the moment. I don't care about what you've done and who you've done it to. I just want my money." He said to her simply, before opening the old wooden door and gesturing her inside. She took a few small steps in and he followed her.

The vault that JBL had been referring to was huge. The door to it dwarfed everything else in the room. There was a small handle on the right side of it, and a computer keyboard with a very small black screen above it, with a white blinking cursor. Stephanie didn't know how she was going to do this. She didn't have the slightest idea of what her father would have picked for a password so many years ago. Her eyes were still taking everything in when she finally spotted him. He was sitting in a chair, staring at the door with his back to her. For a moment, she wasn't sure if she would be able to take the next few steps into the room and do what she needed to do. But something welled up in her from a place she wasn't sure about and she walked forward with confidence, rounding the chair slowly to come face to face with him.

He looked much older than he should have. The last few years had not been kind to him, that was sure. He looked up at her as she stood in front of her and, aside from the surprise that she felt at seeing the man she had thought was dead for the past ten years, she felt sorry for him. Like it was somehow her fault that this had happened. Her father had always had that power over her. They stared at each other for a moment before she finally spoke.

**7:59 **"Hi Daddy." She said to him. For a split second, she thought that she saw something in that otherwise blissful face that he was wearing, but if it had been there, it was gone now. Instead, he smiled gently at her, reminding her of the smiles he used to give her as a little girl. Her heart ached at the feeling, but it didn't last.

"I'm sorry young lady," Vince said to her, crushing her memory. "Do I know you?"

**8:00**


	24. 8:00 to 9:00 AM

**A/N: Well, after four years this is it. The final hour of the day. I plan on adding an epilogue to this probably within the next week, so if you're still interested, stay tuned. Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed/favorited this story, and a huge, HUGE thank you to Nina (DCFanatic4Life) and Johanna (TakerTakeMe) because they've been here with me from the beginning of this. Without them, this story may never have been finished. Thank you ladies. And now...**

**8:00-9:00AM**

**8:00 **Stephanie stared at her father for a moment, processing what he had just said. _"I'm sorry young lady, do I know you?"_ How could he not remember her? How could he not remember his only daughter? She searched his eyes for _something_, some kind of sign that he was faking the whole thing. Some sort of signal that he was playing JBL for a fool and she should join in.

But she found no such sign.

She took a timid step towards him, taking hold of one of his fragile hands and squatting down until she was eye level with him.

"Dad, it's me." She told him softly. "Stephanie. Your daughter." She thought maybe she saw something flicker in his eyes, but she wasn't sure. She tried to ignore the voice in the back of her head that was telling her she was just seeing what she wanted to see.

"Well, miss, I don't know how to tell you this, but I think that you have me confused for someone else. I don't have any children." Vince said to her. Stephanie felt her heart twist inside at his words. Her eyes began to tear up, and she opened her mouth to try and argue with him – to make him see and understand what was right in front of him. But at she looked at him she knew that it would do her no good. The man already had enough to deal with without her contradicting him and confusing him further.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, nodding her head to keep him from seeing the lone tear slide down her cheek. "You must be right." He smiled a sympathetic smile and she stood back up, releasing his hand. JBL stepped towards her and she turned to face him.

"I tried to tell you." He said to her simply. She walked past him over to the keyboard that was connected to the black screen. She stared at it with determination for a few moments before her vision began to blur considerably and a pair of tears started to roll down her cheeks. She took a deep breath to steady herself and wiped them away with the back of her hand before focusing her attention on the task at hand.

**8:04** Chris leaned back slightly against the couch to try make it seem like he was popping his back. His thumb ran over the button to extend the blade and he quickly pushed it, his body and the material of the couch muffling the sound enough so that no one else in the room heard it. Slowly, Chris started to try and cut his way through the duct tape that was binding his hands together.

Ash had decided to lay his head down on Chris's lap since his eyelids were once again becoming pretty hard to keep open. Ted was sitting at the opposite end of the couch with his arms folded, keeping close watch on the other three men in the room.

"How much money do you think he's got down there?" Kennedy was asking Ian. Ian was shaking his head.

"Hard telling." Ian told him. "You know how much of a crazy old man Vince was. Maybe he stashed his retirement fund in there?" Kennedy laughed.

"As if McMahon ever would have retired!" He said. "That man would've died working for this company. He would never retire."

Crouched in a bush below the window that peered into the dining room, Kurt Angle was trying to plot out his rescue plan. He had been watching the action inside the house off and on for the last twenty minutes or so, trying to get a grasp on what was going on inside. He'd watched everyone enter, and he saw that there hadn't really been any struggling or any sort of fighting going on at all – not even from Chris and Stephanie. Stephanie had willingly walked into another room with JBL and even Chris seemed to be pretty calm considering how outnumbered he was.

Kurt had circled the house at least twice now, and he saw that there were two ways in – the front door and another door in the back that seemed to lead into the kitchen. Ideally, Kurt wanted to go in through the back door and sneak his way into another room of the house and then leap out at them suddenly, but with Adamle sitting at the dining room table, he would be spotted as soon as he opened the door. Kurt raised his head slightly and took another peek in through the window. Adamle was sitting at that stupid table staring at something on his phone as Kennedy and Ian seemed to be arguing about something behind him while Ted was still sitting by Chris. Kurt slid back down the wall and tried to think.

The biggest concern for Kurt was Ted, since he was in the best position to hurt Chris and Ash. He figured that if he was going to strike someone down first, it would have to be him. His brow furrowed as he tried to formulate his plan.

**8:09** Stephanie sighed angrily and folded her arms as she stared at the screen in front of her. The screen was lined with entries that all read the same thing.

_Invalid Password_

She was already beginning to lose patience with this. She hadn't even gotten to the point where she could enter in the numerical part of the combination. She needed to come up with the right word before she could get that far.

"Maybe he used your birthday?" JBL suggested, standing off to the side, over by where Vince was sitting. Stephanie rolled her eyes to stare up at the ceiling for a moment in frustration. She turned to him.

"John, if you really want me to be able to come up with something, you need to either be quiet or leave me alone here." She said to him seriously. JBL held his hands up in mock defense.

"Just trying to lend a helping hand." He said to her. She sighed and turned back to the screen. September wouldn't have worked anyway – too many letters. Everything that she could think of was either too short or too long. The fact that it had to be exactly eight characters was giving her quite a challenge. She had already tried SMCMAHON, MCMAHONS, VINNYMAC, and about a dozen other combinations of things she thought that her father might have used. She remembered that JBL had told her that Vince believed that it had something to do with her, but based on the fact that her father had looked at her and told her with a straight face that he had no children, she wasn't too confident about the validity of the information.

She thought that her name would have been a logical choice, but once again, too many letters. It was a shame that Vince had no idea who he was or what he was doing here, because Stephanie really wished that she could tell him how stupid it was to create a password for his vault and not write it down in his will or something. She didn't have the slightest clue as to how she was going to get this thing open. She looked down at the floor for a moment, wiping at her eyes to help her wake up and get focused. She tried to clear her mind of everything else that was swirling around in it. Otherwise she knew that she was never going to open it. Suddenly, her hands flew to the keyboard once more.

DAUGHTER She typed.

_Invalid Password_

VINCENTK was next.

_Invalid Password_

Stephanie slammed her fist down on the keyboard and nearly yelled in frustration. She walked away from the screen and ran her hands through her hair. She didn't give a damn about getting into the vault and seeing everything that her father had squirreled away – she just wanted to get the door open and give JBL what he wanted so that he would leave her family alone and she and Chris could hopefully work on getting their lives back together. The thought of having her life back to normal was akin to dangling meat in front of a starving man. That, more than anything else, was making her tense and causing her to lose her focus.

"I'm going to go back upstairs and check on everything." JBL told her, walking towards the door. Stephanie didn't even acknowledge him – she was too busy pacing the floor to care. JBL walked out the door and she heard him go up the steps before she turned back to her father sitting in the chair. Part of her wanted to walk back over to him and beg him to think and try to remember who he was, but the other part of her knew that she wouldn't be able to bear it if he couldn't do it.

**8:16 **As soon as JBL emerged from the basement door, Kennedy stormed over to him.

"What the hell is Ian talking about, you letting them go?" He demanded, getting in JBL's face as he said it. JBL put a hand on Kennedy's chest and lightly pushed him back.

"First of all, you might want to change the tone of your voice when you're talking to me." JBL started. "And second of all, I think that this is my plan and we will carry it out however _I_ see fit." JBL told him. "Yes, I fully plan on letting them go, what difference does it make to you as long as you get paid?"

"They know who we are!" Kennedy shouted at him. "How do you plan on being able to avoid the police once they open their mouths about what happened here?" JBL smiled at him.

"Look Ken, I can understand your concern but really, do you think that I would be stupid enough to let them go if I thought they were going to turn me in?" He asked him. He put his hand on Kennedy's shoulder and turned him to where he was facing Chris and Ash. Ted was still sitting on the opposite end of the couch and he looked over at them as well.

"Does that man look like someone who wants to turn us in?" JBL asked him quietly so that Chris couldn't make out what they were saying. "Ultimately, he's just a man who wants to be left alone. As long as we don't hurt the kid and we don't hurt Stephanie, then there is no reason for them to come after us. We leave them alone, they leave us alone, understand?" JBL asked. Kennedy stared at Chris for another moment and then yanked his shoulder away from JBL's grip.

"Do you honestly believe that's how this is going to go down?" Kennedy asked him. "Do you really think that just because all you want is money that they're just going to let us waltz out of here with it? And don't tell me that you have the cops all paid off, because eventually money won't reach that far." JBL took a deep breath to keep from shouting at him. Ian and Adamle were standing in the doorway behind him, waiting for something to explode. After a few seconds of silence, JBL spoke up again.

"If you're too afraid to stay around here and get the biggest payday of your life, then you're free to walk out that door anytime you want." JBL told him seriously. Kennedy shifted his weight a little bit and looked around the room at the others who were all watching and waiting for his reaction. He looked back at JBL and nodded his head.

"Fine." He said, holding his hands up in the air. "I'm out. I don't need this kind of shit following me around." JBL gave a slight nod of understanding.

"Okay." JBL told him. "The door is right there." He said, motioning towards the front door. Kennedy leveled his gaze with him for a moment before turning and walking towards the door. He had his hand on the knob when JBL grabbed the gun that was tucked in the back of his pants and took aim at his head. He pulled the trigger twice and Kennedy slumped to the ground in front of the door. JBL looked around at his remaining three men.

"Does anyone else share the same sentiment?" He asked them as Ash raised his head up, confused as to what had awakened him. Chris helped quiet him down while never letting his eyes leave JBL. Satisfied that everyone else was on the same page, he put the gun away. He turned to Ian.

"Take him outside and bury him. There're shovels in the shed behind the house." He said before turning to Ted. "You help him." Ted nodded wordlessly and stood up, following Ian over to where Kennedy was and helping to carry him out the door.

"How are we doing on time?" Adamle asked him. JBL sighed irritably.

"I told you already, I don't have a time frame for this part." JBL said to him. "There's no telling how long it could take."

"How has she been doing?" He asked.

"Well she hasn't gotten it right yet, if that's what you're asking." JBL snapped at him.

"We need to be moving within the next hour." Adamle reminded him. "Otherwise we run the risk of being discovered." JBL scoffed at him.

"I told you I have the police under control." JBL said to him.

"Yes, but for how much longer?" Adamle asked him. "Sooner or later someone is going to figure out that not everything is matching up and then the captain will have no choice but to allow his people to look into it. And you can bet that he isn't going to do us any favors." JBL nodded as they walked into the other room. Ash turned to look up at Chris.

"Are we going home soon, Daddy?" He asked him. Chris shifted his focus from the conversation going on in the kitchen to his son. The corners of his mouth turned up and he nodded.

"Just as soon as Mommy's finished." Chris promised him. He had no idea whether that statement was true or not – he had given up trying to figure out what was really happening and what wasn't. He had a hunch that JBL wasn't going to let them go when this was over, Kennedy was right to suspect that much. Even Ted seemed to think that something was going to happen, since he had slipped Chris that switchblade which only succeeded in confusing Chris more.

He didn't know what Ted's involvement in this whole thing was, or why he was pretending to help him right now, but he had treated Ash kindly when they had taken him and that was something to be considered. Ash seemed to act like Ted was one of the good guys and that was a little boggling to Chris. He didn't know the details of what has happened when Ash was taken, but he figured that Ted had done something to gain Ash's trust, which would be a feat considering everything else the poor boy had been through today.

Ash settled back down in Chris's lap and Chris finally managed to get the last little strip of tape cut through. He held onto the switchblade and kept his hands behind his back, since Adamle and JBL were walking back into the room at that moment. Their conversation had jumped to something else at this point and Chris really didn't care what it was about. He just wanted to keep his family safe, so he took Ted's words to heart.

He would be ready.

**8:24** "Shovels in the shed, huh?" Ian asked himself, standing in the doorway to the small shed as Ted walked up behind him.

"See them?" Ted asked. Ian took a few steps inside and started to sift through some of the old things that had accumulated in there over the years – old toys, random pieces of wood, rusted out lawnmowers. Ted walked in to help him.

He knew that if he ever was going to have a chance to help out Chris and his family, this was it. He needed to take care of Ian somehow to even the numbers up a little bit. He just wasn't sure how to go about doing that. He didn't want to necessarily kill the man because there was a small chance that he could have more information that would be helpful later – not to mention the fact that killing someone was against the law, but that wouldn't stop any of these people from doing the same to him. He just needed something to slow him down, some way to detain him while Ted went back inside and did…whatever his next step would involve.

"Found 'em!" Ian shouted from the other side of a mountain of junk. Ted chewed on his lower lip for a moment, thinking about what he was going to do when Ian appeared behind him, holding the shovel out for Ted to take. Ted walked up to him and took it, nodding his thanks and Ian started to walk back outside.

Ted took his chance.

He swung his shovel and took aim at Ian's head. The shovel connected with a resounding thud and Ian crumpled to the floor below him. Ted stepped down and checked his pulse quickly. When he was satisfied that Ian was still alive, he tossed his shovel aside and dragged Ian back into the shed before stepping outside and locking him in. When he turned to start walking back to the house, he came face to face with Kurt Angle.

Kurt had been ready to hit Ted and take him out, but when Ted suddenly turned around he faltered. Ted saw the hesitation and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to drag him to the side of the shed away from the view of the windows.

"What, you can't shoot me in front of your boss?" Kurt asked him, trying to pull away from him. Ted rolled his eyes.

"I'm not who you think I am." Ted told him. "I'm not working for JBL." Kurt scoffed at him.

"Yeah, kind of like how you weren't working for Randy Orton, either, huh?" Kurt asked. Ted fished around in his pocket and pulled out his police badge, showing it to Kurt.

"I know it'll take more than this to prove that I'm telling the truth." Ted told him, tucking the badge back into its pocket. "But right now, you're going to have to trust me." Kurt stopped struggling against him and they stared each other down for a few seconds. Finally, Ted released his grip on Kurt and Kurt straightened his shirt out before looking up at him again.

"So what's your plan?" Kurt asked him.

**8:32** Stephanie was sitting on the floor in front of the vault door, racking her brain for everything that she could think of. She was running out of options, and she knew she would be running out of time sooner or later as well. Vince was sitting next to her, and although he still didn't remember who she was and refused to acknowledge that they were related, she somehow felt comforted by his presence. Almost like him being there would help her find the right answer to the puzzle she was trying to solve.

She thought back to when she was a kid and she and her father would work on putting puzzles together. It wasn't something they did very often, and it happened less and less as the years went on, but she still remembered him explaining to her the process that he had boiled it down to.

"_First you find the border pieces so that you have something work off of. Then you pick a section and go for it. Line up the pieces the best you can in your mind's eye, and sooner or later, everything will click and the pieces will just fall into place."_

"Stephanie." Vince said suddenly, breaking her thoughts. She turned to him.

"Dad?" She asked him hopefully.

"There needs to be some kind of a nickname, maybe even a ring name for you to come out to, not just Stephanie McMahon." He said to her, and the hope fell a little bit. She remembered having this conversation with him when she first told him that she wanted to go out on screen with him. He had pushed hard against it, but she kept at him and eventually won out. He had told her it was just because she was his favorite daughter.

"The _billion dollar_ princess?" Vince said to himself. Stephanie sighed as she sat with him for a moment before looking back over to the screen. She sat there thinking for a few more moments before an idea finally occurred to her.

**8:38** Ted peeked in through the window next to the back door before quickly opening it. He walked up the step and through the doorway, looking around before motioning for Kurt to follow him in. He directed Kurt to stand in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway. Ted moved to stand across from him in front of the refrigerator that was next to the door. Ted motioned for him to stay quiet and tried to determine where JBL and Adamle were based on their voices. From what it sounded like, they were either in a back room, or possibly in the hallway upstairs.

Ted flicked his hand at Kurt to signal for him to follow him. They walked into the dining room and Ted peeked through the doorway across to the living room. Chris was still sitting where they had left him, looking down at Ash who had fallen asleep on him again. Ted risked a glance up the steps and could just make out the edge of JBL's dress shirt from behind the corner of the wall. He turned back to Kurt.

"Quietly, follow me." He whispered, and they both snuck across the hallway into the living room. Chris looked up as they entered and opened his mouth to say something, but Ted shook his head no. He came closer and leaned down and Chris brought his hands out from behind his back.

"Give Ash to Kurt – he's going to take him back to the SUV." Ted whispered to him. "That way we can be sure that he's safe." Chris looked from Ted to Kurt, who nodded in agreement. Chris remained unsure for a moment before finally lifting his son and standing up with Ted. He looked down at Ash briefly before handing him over to Kurt.

"You keep him safe." Chris whispered to Kurt. Kurt wrapped him arms around Ash and nodded seriously.

"He'll be safe with me, Chris." Kurt told him. "I promise." Chris nodded and Ted went back over to the hallway to make sure that he had a clear way to the front door. He motioned for Kurt to get moving and opened the door for him as quietly as possible, letting Kurt out and shutting it just as quietly. Ted crept back into the living room to stand in front of Chris.

"So what's your plan?" Chris asked him, unknowingly repeating what Kurt had asked only minutes earlier.

"Take em out quickly and quietly." Ted told him. "Avoid killing them if you can." Chris nodded and they walked up to the doorway of the living room, Ted glancing up the steps to see if JBL and Adamle had moved.

"Thank you." Chris whispered to him. "For helping my family." Ted looked over at him.

"Thank me when it's over." Ted told him. Chris nodded as he heard their voices getting closer. Ted moved to the opposite side of the doorway with Chris so that they wouldn't be seen. JBL and Adamle were walking down the steps to the first floor.

"Give her ten more minutes." Adamle was saying. "After that, we start pushing buttons."

"Fine." JBL told him. "But I think that we'll be making a mistake by getting her emotions involved this early on." Ted was holding still until he made sure that they were close enough for him and Chris to reach without them getting the chance to pull their guns. He looked and Chris and nodded. They both bolted through the doorway and lunged for Adamle and JBL.

Ted lunged for Adamle and Chris went for JBL. Ted tackled Adamle quickly and laid a couple of punches into him to stun him enough for Ted to be able to restrain him. Chris managed to grab hold of JBL, but because of everything else that had happened to him today, he wasn't able to bring him down. They struggled for a little bit, with JBL trying to push Chris away from him, and Chris in full-on tackle mode. They were at a bit of a stalemate before JBL brought his knee up into Chris's stomach. Chris released his hold and doubled over, giving JBL enough time to turn and run down the steps to the basement. Chris wheezed a couple of times before standing up straight and starting after him.

**8:47** Stephanie was walking back over to the keyboard when JBL stumbled in, shutting and locking the door quickly before leaning his back against it. He aimed his gun at her as he started to walk towards her.

"Open the door now!" He shouted. Stephanie took a step back.

"I-I don't know the password yet…" She stuttered as someone started to pound on the door that JBL had just come in through.

"Stephanie!" Chris shouted from the other side.

"Chris!" Stephanie shouted back before JBL struck her across the side of the face with his gun. She stumbled back a couple of steps and pressed a hand to her cheek, her eyes wide with anger and shock.

"Open it or I'll kill you!!" JBL bellowed, waving the gun in her face again, and for the first time in her life, Stephanie froze. She had always been good at performing under pressure, but this time, something didn't work. She felt like time was standing still and she had no idea how to react. She could almost hear her shouting at herself to move, to hit him, to try and open the door again – anything! But she remained rooted to the spot. She could hear Chris throwing his weight against the door in an attempt to break it down as JBL set his jaw.

"Fine. If that's the way you want it." He said to her, cocking the gun. His finger was squeezing the trigger and Stephanie was sure that she was going to get shot standing there like a coward. At that moment, Chris busted the door off of its hinges and came barreling into the room. JBL swung his arm around and took quick aim at Chris. Stephanie watched it all happen almost in slow motion. She lunged forward, frozen in place no longer, reaching for the gun that would decide her lover's fate.

But she was moving too slow…much too slow.

The gun fired and time went back to normal. Stephanie crashed into JBL, knocking him off balance as Ted came running down the steps. JBL started to aim at Ted, but Stephanie hit his hand and the gun shot at the concrete floor instead. Ted ran over and knocked JBL to the ground, pinning him to the floor and working quickly to pull his arms behind his back. Stephanie rushed over to Chris who had crumpled to the floor. Her heart was in her throat as she rolled him over to look at him.

"Chris." She choked, head swimming and her eyes starting to flood. All she could think of was not here. Not now. Not after everything they'd been through today. They'd almost made it. They were so close. Not now. She was too wrapped up in her own emotions that she didn't register his hand gripping her arm, and the tears that were clouding her vision didn't let her see the fact that his eyes were open, but dazed. She started to shake him as the tears started to fall and he gripped her tighter.

"Steph…" He mumbled. "Stop shaking me." She gasped in surprised and joy and immediately pulled him to her. "Ow, ow, ow." He winced as she grabbed him.

"Sorry!" She apologized, loosening her grip on him. He smirked at her. "It's just…I thought…" She started looking him over and noticed that the bullet she thought had killed him had caught him in the leg. He ran a hand across her face and nodded.

"I know how you feel." He said to her.

"Is Ash okay?" She asked him. He nodded at her.

"He's with Kurt." He said as Ted pulled JBL to his feet and started to march him forward.

"You okay?" Ted asked him. Chris nodded again.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He said.

"I'll be back down in a couple minutes. I just want to make sure these guys aren't going anywhere." Ted told him before walking back up the steps. Chris looked over at the vault and the man who was still sitting in front of it.

"How is he?" Chris asked her, as she put pressure on his wound. She looked over at Vince and then back to Chris.

"Not good." She said. "He doesn't know who I am."

"Guess that means the secret code to get the vault open is lost forever then, huh?" He asked. She looked at him with a gleam in her eye.

"I wouldn't say that." She told him. He narrowed his eyes at her and raised an eyebrow. She stood up and helped him to his feet, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. She started to lead him in the direction of the stairs, but Chris pulled against her.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"I want to know what the code is." He said to her. She gave him a look.

"Don't you think that this can wait?" She asked. "Shouldn't we be getting you to the hospital?" He gave her a serious look.

"I've waited this long, what's another ten minutes?" He asked her. She gave him a look that said she didn't agree, but she decided no to argue and helped him slowly make his way over to the keyboard. She pointed to the last entry on the screen.

PRINCESS it read.

_Correct Password_

"I still have to figure out the 5-digit numerical code." She said to him. "But the word is right." He looked over at the number pad for a moment, then counted on his fingers.

"Five digits?" He asked. She nodded.

"What are you thinking?" She asked him. He reached over and punched in some numbers before hitting enter and they heard a giant hissing sound as the vault unlocked. She looked at him in disbelief before turning to the screen.

78347

_Correct Code_

"How in the world did you come up with that?" She asked him. He smiled at her.

"Look at the number pad." He told her. "It's set up like one on a phone instead of one on a keyboard. There's letters underneath the numbers, meaning that the second part was a word too, just entered in number form."

"You realized this all in twenty seconds?" She asked him.

"Work with me, here." He said to her. "Who was the princess your dad would have been referring to?" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Me." She said.

"Exactly." He told her. She wrinkled her brow at him.

"How does that make sense?" She asked.

"It's your name." He said.

"Chris, my name is longer than five letters long." She told him. He nodded impatiently.

"I know that, but your nickname isn't." He said.

"Nickname?"

"Oh come on. Steph. You know…short for Stephanie?" He said and he could see it rolling around in her mind. She looked at the number pad again and back up at the screen.

PRINCESS 78347

PRINCESS STEPH

She shook her head at him and smiled.

"You never cease to amaze me, Chris Irvine." She mused. He smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead.

"Should we see what's behind door number one?" He asked.

"Absolutely." She told him, helping him limp over to the handle and they pulled the door open.

Inside wasn't _quite_ the mountain of money that JBL was expecting. Oh sure, there was plenty of money in there, but there was also a lot of other things piled away. Sentimental things that probably only would have made sense to Vince McMahon. Stephanie let go of Chris and walked inside slowly. He placed a hand on the door of the vault to keep himself steady as he watched her wander into the vault and around the few tables of things set up. He turned to see Vince himself wandering into the vault, almost like a lost puppy, and watched as he picked up a picture frame from one of the tables and stared at it.

**8:58 **Stephanie walked over to him and looked over his shoulder at the picture. It was one of her whole family the first time they came to stay at the house. She smiled as tears once more began to blur her vision. She looked up at her father and saw that he also had tears in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Stephanie. For everything." He whispered to her, remembering for however brief a time, who she was and what she meant to him. She didn't say anything to him. She simply wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tightly as she could.

**9:00**

**Just a little reminder - Epilogue will be added shortly, so stay tuned if you wish!**


	25. Epilogue

**A/N: Here's the epilogue I promised! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter. I'm going to be turning my attention to _Visions _now, but since classes have started, don't be surprised if my updates are a little sporadic to begin with. I might have a couple of one shots that come out before then involving the ever-so-nice-sweet-southern-boy Ted DiBiase. I can't wait until he breaks away from Legacy! Sorry, I digress... But seriously, thank you to everyone out there who read and enjoyed this story (or any of my stories really) I'm glad to have the chance to share my work with you and even happier to know that you all enjoyed it. Thanks for the support and I hope you'll venture along with me on some of my other stories. For now though, enjoy the final piece of _Gone._**

Stephanie was laying with her head resting on Chris's chest as he absently flipped through the channels. Ash had long since been put to bed, but neither one of them could sleep, so they had decided to stay up and watch some TV. She felt so content lying there with him, so peaceful. It was a wonder that they were able to go back to their normal lives at all after everything that had happened to them.

JBL, Adamle, and Ian had all been sent to prison for not only their involvement with what had happened, but also a slew of other crimes that had gone unpunished over the last decade or so. When the charges were being read off, Ted DiBiase made sure that he had found as much as he could to permanently remove them from society. He'd also found every single person from the police force that had been getting paid off by JBL and found evidence to have them punished as well. For his efforts, he was awarded a medal and promoted to a lieutenant when the former lieutenant took the captain's position.

Kurt Angle was, without question, the unsung hero of the day. Chris and Stephanie had both thanked him numerous times, each time he had waved them off telling them that it was nothing and that he was only happy that he could help. The WWE headquarters was in the process of being rebuilt and the company re-established with Kurt leading the way. Chris and Stephanie still held ownership to the business, but they decided to bow out of the spotlight for the time being.

Vince had been admitted to a nursing facility, due the amount of care that he required, and once he got there, he started to seem a little like his old self again: cranky, hot-tempered, and driven. The Alzheimer's was still an issue for him, but he seemed to be doing better every time that Stephanie went to see him.

Chris and Stephanie had both kept a close eye on Ash, once they were all released from the hospital. One of the staff had recommended a counselor for them all, but they decided to take the business card and wait it out. Chris and Steph were both cynical about what the counselor would be able to do for them, considering everything that had happened. They both spent as much time with him as they could and he seemed to be doing okay – happy and playful like a normal five-year-old boy.

As for Chris and Stephanie themselves…they hadn't talked much about everything. They fell back in sync with each other and Chris had moved in with her for Ash, but they both weren't really sure where they stood with the other. There had been plenty of times that Stephanie started to open her mouth to initiate a conversation with him, but something always came up right at that moment, or she never had the right words to say. They were comfortable with each other and there were rarely any awkward moments, but she still wanted to clear the air with him. She realized that he had stopped flipping through channels and had settled on a movie that was on.

"What movie is this?" She asked him, stretching slightly. He yawned.

"Not sure." He said. "Looks like _The Thing_." Stephanie crinkled her nose at him.

"Sci-fi again?" He smirked and tried to hand the remote to her.

"Well, if there's anything better on, I challenge you to find it." He said to her. She shook her head and took the remote from him, quickly pushing the button to turn the TV off.

"Hey now, why did you do that?" He asked her. She reached over the top of him and turned on the lamp. They both squinted at the sudden change of brightness. She propped herself up on her elbows so that she was hovering over him slightly.

"I think we should talk." She said to him. He looked at her.

"About what?" He asked suspiciously.

"About the night that you almost killed yourself." She said, with him groaning and trying to get up before she finished her sentence. She pushed him down gently and kept her weight on him.

"Why do you want to talk about that?" He asked her, finally settling back down into the couch they were laying on.

"Because I need to know what happened." She said. He sighed irritably and looked away from her.

"Stephanie…" He started.

"No, Chris." She cut him off. "Now you know that I normally don't pry about stuff like this, but this is something I need to hear. I need to know what happened and I need to know why you didn't go through with it." Chris sighed again and laid his head back against the armrest of the couch, looking straight up at the ceiling. Stephanie watched him, wondering if she had picked another bad time to try and bring this up, but she _needed_ to know what happened. Partially because she felt responsible and partially because she wanted to help keep him from ever getting to that point again. After a few minutes of nothing but silence, he finally looked at her and swallowed thickly.

"Look, this is something that I've been trying to forget. I've been trying to bury it and move on like that part of my life never happened." He told her seriously. She nodded.

"I know." She told him. "And I'm not trying to rip open old wounds, but I just…I think that if we're ever going to get a second chance at us we need to be completely open and honest about everything that happened when we were apart. No secrets." She said as he took a deep breath. "I've told you about Shawn and how that happened, but you never really opened up about this, and I think that it's something that needs to be talked about. For my sake as well as yours." He studied her for a moment.

"Fine." He finally relented. "Can I sit up?" He asked.

"Only if you promise that you're not going to walk away from me." She said. He held his hands up in surrender.

"I won't walk away." He promised. She took him at his word and moved off of him so that they were both sitting across from each other on the couch. He looked around the room once and shifted his weight a few times, the memory clearer than he wanted it to be – the wound not quite healed. He studied his hands for a few seconds and then cleared his throat.

"I don't really know what you want me to say." He told her.

"Just tell me what happened." She encouraged him. "Tell me what happened that day, or wherever you want to start from." He sighed once more and looked at his hands again.

"You know most of everything else I would tell you." He said. "The only time I ever showed that anything was wrong was when you were around." He looked at her and he could already see the hurt in her eyes. He knew that as much as it would hurt him to talk about this, it would hurt her just as much to hear it. He knew that she felt responsible, and even though he wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault, he couldn't ever quite bring himself to speak the words. Part of him wanted to blame it on her, even though he knew that he was the one who had brought himself to that state. Since he hadn't been able to place the blame, he'd simply shoved the whole thing aside in his memory and refused to think about it, choosing to live in the moment.

"It was the day I got the divorce papers." He told her. "I knew what it was before I opened it, but I went ahead and ripped it open, letting them sit on my coffee table." He paused for a moment. "Once they were on there, I just sat and stared at them. All I could think about was how I had lost you again and how worthless my life had become."

"I'd been drinking a lot – you knew that. It was the only way that I could get to sleep anymore, since everywhere I turned you were there. That memory of you and Shawn…it haunted me. I couldn't deal with it, with losing you to him. So I tried to drink you away. But I knew that wasn't working either." He took a deep breath and continued to avoid her gaze.

"The idea had floated into my head one night, while I was waiting to pass out." He admitted. "I wondered if anyone would notice I wasn't there. If they would care enough to come to the funeral. I wondered if you would come, or if anyone would tell you. Then I pushed it away. For the next couple of weeks, I kept wandering into a gun shop and looking at different models, trying to decide which one I would use if I ever got that desperate. It calmed me for some reason."

"Staring at those papers that day, I decided that if I was had to go the rest of my life without you, I didn't want to do it anymore." He said, his voice cracking a little bit. "I went out and bought a handgun and the smallest box of bullets I could find. When I came back, I set them on the coffee table next to the papers and stared at all of it for I don't know how long."

"I finally picked up the pen to sign the pages and I made it all the way to the last page before I hesitated. I must have put the pen to the paper a hundred times before I was finally able to sign it. I ripped a hole in the page, I was so quick with it." He paused, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for the next little bit.

"I can't remember loading the gun or when I picked it up, but I know that when I put the barrel against the side of my head, everything started flashing in front of me – like a movie. I saw you and Shawn together, I saw your face when I blew up at work, I saw you as Shawn told me to stay away from Ash…everything that had brought me to this point, and I started to squeeze the trigger." Chris finally looked up from his hands to Stephanie's face and felt his heart wrench at the tears in her eyes. She reached over and grabbed one of his hands. "But, right as I started to do that," he went on, "I saw everything about my life that had made me happy – Ash being born, marrying you, being with you, wrestling in that ring… and I realized that I was staring at a picture that was across the room."

"It was the picture of Ash and me on that beach – the one you took when we went on vacation." He said. "I saw it and I couldn't stop the thoughts that came barreling through. 'What would he think, years later when he was told that his father couldn't deal with his problems and killed himself? Would he do the same thing later in life if things didn't turn out the way he planned? Would he hate me for doing it?' And it was all too much, I couldn't deal with the thought of disappointing him or hurting him more than I already had. I threw the gun away from me like it was poison and I just…broke down." He finished. Stephanie reached over and pulled him as tightly against her as she could as the tears fell from her eyes.

"Ash was my reason." He told her, his own eyes beginning to tear up. "He's the reason I'm still here, no matter what happened to make me get to where I was. He's my world for that, my everything."

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Stephanie sobbed into his shoulder. "I never meant to hurt you like this. I never meant for anything to happen…" Chris pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes.

"I know." He said to her. "I know you never meant for that, you made a mistake. We all do. It's part of being human." He said. "I don't mean to make it seem like this was all your fault, but…" He trailed off. "But I guess before I can let this work between us, I need to be sure that you won't hurt me like you did before. I just…I can't go through this again, Stephanie."

"Don't get me wrong – I love you with everything I have." He said. "But I just can't go through another break with you. It almost killed me…I won't let you in just to tear me down again." She kept her eyes fixed on his and she knew that he was laying it all out on the table for her. It was time to make the decision they'd been skating around ever since the whole mess had started. It was the question she had been asking herself ever since he moved back in. Could she put her insecurities aside and believe that they were meant to be together – that they deserved to be happy? Over the course of the time that she'd spent with him these last few weeks, her choice had been made for her.

"I don't want to hurt you ever again." She said to him. "I don't want you to leave ever again. You're as much a part of me as I am to you, and I think that we can do it this time. I think that this could be our second chance to make right what we screwed up the first time around." He slowly smiled at her and she smiled back.

"And I guess there's something I should tell you, since we've agreed to this whole 'no secrets' thing." She said. He gave her a look.

"This doesn't involve something like you stealing a crayon from your brother twenty years ago or something like that, does it?" He asked. She chuckled at him.

"No, it has nothing to do with him." She said, smacking him playfully on the chest. "It has to do with you."

"Oh, well, do tell then." He said. She looked at him and smiled.

"I'm pregnant." She said to him. He stared at her.

"You're…" He trailed off. She nodded.

"Our second chance." She said to him. "What better way to start it off?" He reached over and ran his fingertips over her belly. He was overflowing with so many emotions he didn't really know what to do or say.

"Should we name him Chance?" He asked her finally, smirking. She shot him a look.

"Absolutely not." She said sternly. "Besides, it's going to be a girl." Chris laughed.

"That's what you said about Ash." He reminded her.

"Well you got what you wanted last time. Now, it's my turn." She said to him, sticking her tongue out. He smiled and pulled her tightly against him, hugging her for everything that he was worth, her clinging onto him like he would disappear.

"I love you." He told her softly. He felt her nod as her chin move against his shoulder.

"I love you too." She said, just as soft before he leaned back to kiss her.


End file.
